Miracea
by squishyfrog
Summary: I guess you could call it a Ferard...but those Ferard fanatics probably wouldn't like the ending... My Chemical Romance, Gerard Way, a very gay Frank Iero, and an alternative universe. 'Nough said. Probably a series.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N **

**Okie...so here's a little bit of what I've been working on lately...why I haven't updated the other one...I haven't really read over it, so it's probably crap.**

Chapter 1

**F POV**

"For the third night in a row?" Gerard slurred through my lips. "Frank, honestly."

I broke apart from him and pulled my award winning pout.

"Fine," he grinned. "S'long as I get to be on top."

"Sure, yeah," I agreed hastily, smothering myself against him.

Having Gee inside me always feels like going under a waterfall. Uncomfortable at first, but also impossible not to shiver in pleasure. Then when I get out, there's the strange disappointment, like an ending euphoria. Not to mention the slime.

* * *

_Flash of red. Creak of a stair. Noises and colors...that's all that can be made out._

_Then suddenly...everything goes black._

_A scream rings out in the death black room...or is it a room?_

_Another sense enters the picture: touch._

_That's not possible...is it?_

_A cold, wet, soft, and solid feeling. Ground?_

"_She sent for you," a voice chimed, almost child like._

_

* * *

  
_

I jumped awake, shocked, but not scared, by the dream.

"You okay?" Gee asked me, sounding fully awake.

"Brilliant," I sighed, feeling his fingers start to prowl up my torso.

He kissed my shoulder, sending a flutter of pleasure through my body. "I love it when you use British words."

"What the heck?" I giggled, twisting my neck so I could look at him in the dark. "'Brilliant' isn't a British word."

"Where have you been?" he asked, and I could practically hear the smirk in his voice. "'Brilliant' 's been a British word for a _long_ time. Ever since Harry Potter."

"Whatever," I resigned, giving him a quick kiss on the lips before getting up. "I'm gonna go to the _loo_."

I added the last part for his affect.

"Irish," he corrected.

I didn't bother replying, as I was still trying to get a grip on the dream that had just ruined my night…or was it night?

Shit, what time was it?

Whatever time it was, it felt way too early, and I silently cursed my subconscious's inability to tell me what was weighing it down in a normal dream.

It did bother me that, only since moving into the hotel with Gerard had I been having those dreams.

He wasn't really _that_ bad in bed, was he?

No…if that was it, I'd have dreams of, like, old girlfriends and orgies or something. Not dreams of...nothing.

I climbed back in bed, just as the alarm clock went off.

"What the hell?" I groaned into my pillow.

"I'm sorry," Gee laughed, immediately turning the clock off and getting out of bed.

"Where are you going?" I whined, sitting up again.

"I gotta go to Morgan's," he said, giving me a quick kiss on the cheek. "Go back to sleep."

Damn him and his new editor job. And damn his new freaking obsession with this girl's stuff.

That I've yet to read....

"Why?"

"Just to piss her off," he smirked, liking the idea of a surprise visit, that _did_ typically tend to piss her off.

But she didn't know Gerard.

* * *

**M POV**

_Wow_, I growled inwardly. _It's no wonder he can't hold down a girlfriend. Or any friends for that matter. He drives them all insane._

Okay, showing up unexpected is one thing, but showing up unexpected at _7 in the freaking morning_.

That's just wrong.

"What. The hell. Do you want?" I snapped at Gerard.

"What I always want," he chirped, _way_ too happy in the morning for a so called freaking _vampire_. When will the fan girls realize that the pale skin is _make up_?

"Haven't written anything," I snarled. "Go home."

"But you're always writing," he argued. "I could show you the texts if you don't believe me."

Why do I do this to myself?

"I don't like you right now,"

"You never like me,"

"Might change if you let me sleep some,"

"You can sleep when you're dead," he frowned. "Now's the time to _live_."

"For grannies and trash collectors," I huffed.

"Whatever," he shrugged. "The sooner we get this over with, the sooner you can get back to sleep, and the sooner I can get back to the hotel and…I dunno, really."

"Hmm," I grunted, slipping back inside with him close behind. "Stay down here."

"I know," he sighed, familiar with the routine.

I've never let him in my room, which is where my writing is. He still doesn't know why, and I'm not _about_ to tell him.

Yeah…you're probably smart enough to figure out that it's because of the pictures of his band plastered all over my room.

But he's not that smart. Not that that's his choice.

* * *

**F POV**

I didn't get back to sleep after Gerard left, though I felt more tired than ever before.

Turning on the TV, I felt painfully reminded of how out of touch I was with the world outside mine.

Murders that reporters kept going on about, like I should know about it, too. Updates on the war, economy, and scientific discoveries felt like science fiction to me, so I just turned the TV back off.

I didn't like Gerard being away and leaving me here alone, feeling so isolated.

I began to get paranoid, staring at the TV and sensing my heart begin to race, feeling daĵa vu sweep over me.

_Get out, get out, you little son-of-a-_

Images suddenly swirled in my head, none of them pleasant.

Whoa…that definitely wasn't me. That was definitely….

My paranoia level rose especially high in only a few second period.

_Just a weird moment_, I thought to myself, trying to keep my calm. _Maybe a little hallucination, nothing to worry about._

"She write anything new?" I asked almost as soon as he'd walked through the door, assaulting him with touching and cuddling after his long -or it seemed to be this time- absence.

_Just lack of sleep_, I reminded myself, knowing why his absence had felt so long.

"Not really," he said, grimacing.

Did she throw something at him again?

"Just more drafts," he continued. "She's even worse in the mornings."

"What did she do this time?" I asked, feeling like a little puppy begging his mother for milk.

"Nothing," he smirked. "Just ignored me nearly the entire time."

"Aw," I sympathized, tugging on his shirt. "You wanna make up for that right now?"

He chuckled against the lips that were suddenly caressing his. "Not now, babe."

"Aw," I pouted, more out of pity for myself this time.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N(to whom it may concern): Haha...no, that wasn't the end...a lot to go, dearies  
**

**F POV**

I didn't like being jealous when it came to Gerard. He always said he liked that about me, and the fact that I trusted him so well.

But this Morgan just sucked the life out of him, and she took so much time I could have with him away.

I'd been with Gee once when he went to check on her progress. I remember she hadn't written anything, but apparently that's what she always says.

Yes, you can see where I'm going with this, can't you?

The next time Gerard decided to give her a visit was about a week later, which he deemed long enough for her to have written something new.

"Can I go?" I begged.

"Um..." Gee hesitated, caught off guard. "Sure, but…why?"

"Cause," I said, not wanting to elaborate.

"Cause why?"

"I dunno," I shrugged.

He let out a sigh, though I could tell he was slightly amused. "Alright, then."

It only took me about 10 minutes to get ready, though he insisted we could go looking like poor white trash and Morgan could care less.

"Hello?" a girl with long black hair answered the door, whom I assumed to be Morgan, then immediately got an annoyed look on her face. "Oh. Hi, Gerard. Frank."

So she remembered me.

Gerard got a perplexed look on his face, suggesting she usually had more creative greetings than that.

She beckoned us in, and we got another greeting from a different room of the sound of roaring water. She and led the way to the computer, where she pulled up another chair.

"Go ahead," she muttered, returning to the room with running water. "It's already up."

"You knew I was coming?" Gee asked, bewildered.

"You texted me, remember?"

"Oh," he grunted, apparently disappointed.

And with that she disappeared.

I sat and waited while Gerard read, taking notice of the room she'd left us in.

It felt big, even with all the furniture, though it couldn't have been more than 10 feet tall. I couldn't see any portraits or family photos in the dimly lit room, but I did see a few very simple paintings and several pieces of pottery.

I knew Gee wasn't a slow reader, but he was taking a while with what she'd just finished.

Eventually, the sound of water froze and Morgan came back in.

"It's actually a little less cynical than usual," Gee remarked, not prying his gaze from the computer.

"Hm," Morgan sighed, pulling her hair into a ponytail. "Yeah, I noticed that."

"You...uh...wrote...in the beginning...."

I tuned out, concentrating more on Morgan's frame. She had to have been at _least_ four inches shorter than me. Did he say she was thirteen? Or fourteen? I think he said thirteen.... But she seemed too small to be thirteen.

Whatever her age, the cynical and, honestly, bitchy attitude protruded more so than anything else, and for some reason disbanding my paranoia.

That...and the fact that Gee really was reading a story.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

**F** **POV**

Definitely not something I needed to worry about. Why was I worrying about it in the first place?

"See what I mean?" Gerard grumbled as we left. "She's such a bitch!"

"Why do you go back?" I asked, more confused about that than anything else.

"The story's good," he shrugged.

"If she...like...hired you or whatever-"

"She didn't," Gee chuckled. "That's probably part of why she's such a bitch. Her friend read some of her stuff and mentioned her to me."

"Oh," I said, thinking it must be one friggin good story for Gee to put up with that.

"She must not be _too _adamant about hating her friend for that, though," he continued. "Because she still tolerates me enough to keep showing me stuff."

"She must secretly want to publish," I smirked.

"I guess," he said, obviously annoyed by her antics. "I just hope she doesn't think she can get very far in her social life acting like that."

"Well," I disagreed. "Everybody has that one bitchy friend."

"That they happen to hate?" he suggested.

"That they happen to _think_ they hate," I corrected.

Gerard smirked, now amused by _my_ antics.

"Sure," he laughed.

* * *

"_You don't believe me?" the lady asked, staring at the lake._

"_No," I answered, watching a bird land on the water and then fall, sinking beneath the black surface._

"_You will soon," she whispered. "And if you stop being so blind now, it won't hurt so much later."_

_"__But the opposite is true, too," someone from behind me argued.

* * *

_

I woke up before I could find out exactly what was going on. One part of me became furious that I didn't find out who the other figure was, and another part felt relieved. I decided I didn't want to know, even though curiosity kept burning in the front of my mind.

The bright numbers on the digital clock next to me felt blinding, almost like they were mocking my newly formed inability to sleep through the night.

I let out an exasperated sigh, just quiet enough to not wake Gee up. Looking over, my eyes froze, soaking in the image of his sleeping figure. He maintained a slow and steady breath, his chest rising and falling in accordance. Though shorter than usual, his hair streaked across his eyes, hiding them in a newly dyed brown blanket. And who could tell when it would be dyed again, knowing Gee. He seemed so tranquil when he slept, and so jocund otherwise.

He shifted his position and I tore my gaze away from him, stupidly afraid he might wake to find me staring at him. Not that he'd never done the same with me.

I rolled over and gave another pathetic attempt at convincing my body to fall asleep.

* * *

**M** **POV**

_Three in the morning and I'm still writing_, I thought. _How am I still writing? And, a better question, why?_

A burst. One of the best yet; one of the fullest. It would be good this time. I knew it. It would be flawless. It had to be.

Words flew from my mind onto paper, filling paragraph after paragraph, page after page. Words no one would hear me utter; pages Gerard would never see. It felt like privacy within my rejection, if that makes sense at all. After every little word, the story seemed more and more real to me, and more permanent. It would never leave me, unlike everyone else. At least...it wouldn't if I could help it. No doubt, though, in the morning, when I woke up, I would hate it and think it silly.

But for now...the connection between my thoughts, my words, and my feelings felt too strong for me to stop.

* * *

**F** **POV**

This couldn't be good. Why in the _hell_ couldn't I sleep? And what was it with those dreams? Not good...not good at all.

I sat in front of the TV, trying to watch it...and failing epically. Watching it would entail not thinking about these things. Which happened to be the only things on my mind lately. Every night now I seemed to have some odd dream. And this didn't seem to escape Gee's attention.

"You okay?" he asked me, sitting down on the couch next to me.

"Yeah," I said, turning toward him and intertwining his fingers with mine. "Why?"

"I don't know," he mumbled. "You seem a little distracted lately."

"I'm fine," I assured him, attempting to give him a smile.

"You haven't been sleeping well," he argued. "You're not fine."

"I've been sleeping just fine," I told him.

"Your eyes tell me differently," he said.

I pulled him closer and kissed him softly, hoping that might reinforce my argument.

"I'm fine," I repeated.

"If you say so," he whispered, returning my kiss.

Sliding my hand out of his, I laid it on the back of his neck and gently tugged to keep him close. His hand brushed against my hip, then took hold of it. Both my hands found their way to his shoulders and rested there, while his hands began to roam.

And here we go again.

* * *

**M** **POV**

"You mean they don't know?" Daniel asked slowly.

"No," I said, slowly sipping my coffee.

"Morgan!" he exclaimed. "What the hell are you-"

"I'm working on it," I assured him, rather amused by his reaction. "Calm down, silly."

"That is not-"

"Oh shush," I told him. "In due time, grasshopper, in due time."

He shook his head, obviously still not calm.

"Relax," I chuckled. "Have a latte or something"

"This is _not_ going to turn out well," he told me.

"Oh, but it'll be so much fun," I chirped.

"Not cool, Morgan," he growled. "Not. Cool."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

**Unknown** **POV**

Harry Potter. It was playing Harry Potter..._yet_ _again_. You know...the wizards didn't bother me at first...what with my scarce entertainment and all...but you start playing them _over,_ and _over_, and freaking _over_ again, you really couldn't give a shit less who gets the stone.

"You know...Morgan," I said aloud, knowing I didn't need her next to me for her to hear me. "You're not doing a great job of keeping me sane. If you're even trying."

No response but from the grunt of my neighbor, who had finally figured out he couldn't do anything about my talking. Without pain, of course. But what goes around comes around...I had to deal with his screeching in the same way. Personally, I think my talking is a little less obnoxious.

I turned away from Harry, toward the tree behind me. Feeling the bark, a sickeningly familiar female voice drifted my way from across the clearing.

_Paper flowers...I linger in the door way of alarm clock screaming monsters calling my name.*_

"Let me die," I argued her next line.

_Where the wind will whisper to me. Where the raindrops as they're falling tell a story._

"What raindrops?" I growled, quiet enough for her not to hear.

It never rains here.

_In my field of paper flowers, and candy clouds of lullaby._

"Is that _really_ the only reason you sing that song?" I snapped, starting to claw my way up the tree.

_And watch my purple sky fly over me._

"It's blue, idiot," I muttered, though I knew it was only a song.

_Don't say I'm out of touch...with this rampant chaos - your reality._

"And yours," I shot back.

_I know well what lies beyond my sleeping refuge. The nightmare I built my own world to escape._

"You think _that_ world's a nightmare?" I grumbled, now thinking of Morgan more so than the person actually singing.

_In my field of paper flowers and candy clouds of lullaby, I lie inside myself for hours...._

"I'm sure you do," I agreed. "On the rare occurrence when you come here."

"But she does come here," the woman told me, stopping mid note...or whatever it was the she stopped in.

Ha! Not like I know shit about music. Not like I give a damn, either. When would I see an opera next? _When hell freezes over_.

"Really?" I said coldly, not in the mood to talk to her.

"Oh," she gasped. "You can't see the cottage, can you?"

"Piss off," I told her.

"I _do_ want to know what goes on in there," she mused, ignoring my polite request.

"_So go effing find out_," I hissed.

She snapped her head back up at me with a mixed expression of hurt and utter loathing. I would think she would have gotten to know me by then.

"And I will," she smirked, plucking a paper flower away from its grassy home. "One day I will."

"I sincerely wish you luck on your suicide mission," I said, returning her smirk.

Ignoring me, she held the flower up to her face and waited, watching it transform into a fluttering bird. Yes, I'm sure I would be _just_ as amazed as she looked, if I hadn't seen it _four_ _hundred_ _times_.

"You can't appreciate ambition, can you?" she asked.

"Okay," I chuckled. "I get it, slitting your wrists gets old. Go ahead and find a new masochistic hobby."

Her mouth gaped in horror and she shot up, looking tempted to risk her life already by coming over and bitch slapping me. As happy as that would have made me, I think Morgan would have gotten a little mad. The woman, however, only huffed and stormed off behind her wooden buildings, beginning to sing another song.

* * *

*Imaginary - Evanescence


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

**F** **POV**

Laying across his chest, I began to feel as if we were in a different world, since in the real one we could never have laid together like this without being stoned to death. This felt too perfect; I wondered how it could be happening.

Most people would die to be able to do what I was doing. To love as freely as some could hate. Kiss as safely as some could harm. And be able to lay with whom I pleased, and love him better than I could ever love someone of the opposite sex.

And, _God_, did I love him.

I couldn't express it in words, mainly because there aren't enough, but also because it's so impossible to describe. All I could say, was that I knew it had to be more powerful than any kind of hate that would be thrown at us. Like in "The Day The Earth Stood Still", it was the orb against the flood of deadly bugs, withstanding their power and protecting all inside.

Not that we would be entirely protected, but our feelings definitely couldn't be destroyed.

Nudging me out of my thoughts, Gerard kissed my forehead and started plucking at my hair.

I sighed contentedly, fingering his sweaty torso and tracing the lines that seemed so perfectly etched into his frame.

"I love you, Frankie," Gee whispered in my ear.

"I love you, too," I told him, rolling to the side of him and scooting up to his level.

He planted a gentle kiss on my lips, and smiled.

_The rain wizard will wash our hands, bring magic to our lands, _he sung softly. _The rain wizard will do it again. Bring magic to our lands._

"Really?" I murmured, intrigued by the new lyrics. "What song is that?"

"Rain wizard," he said. "Black Stone Cherry."

"I like it," I said. "Is that the chorus?"

"Mm-hmm," he confirmed.

_Hair strung like silver,_

_And the moons they lit his robe,_

_His boots they are leading,_

_To a path that no one knows,_

The tune of his voice drowned out his words, and I closed my eyes to listen, holding back further interruptions. He finished the song, at least seemingly, and started another. I vaguely wondered where this burst had come from, but I knew Gee. He had his moods.

_You can never tell which you're gonna be,_

_Cus you're so obsessed with your personalities,_

_Love is so sick, and you know God is love,_

_You think you're somethin', somethin' from above,*_

Suddenly, he stopped and shifted. My eyes fluttered open in response, and I looked at him in suspicion. His chocolate brown eyes stared at me a little too lovingly as he bit his lip in that puppy dog fashion.

"Frankie?" he crooned.

"Yes, love?"

"I need to go...." he whispered.

A groan half escaped me, though he hadn't gone to see her in a while. "Morgan?"

"Yes,"

"You'll need a jacket," I warned him.

"'Cause she's so cold?" he joked.

"Yes," I giggled. "Almost as cold as the weather."

"Oh, I think she's colder than that," he muttered.

"Then why do you still see her?" I asked.

"Job," he grunted, getting out of bed.

Right. It's _all_ part of the job.

"Frankie," he chided me, looking slightly worried. "That's disgusting."

I let out a fake gasp. "He can read my mind _while_ putting his pants on, isn't that something?"

"Yeah, and I can _also_ tell you what you're thinking is no where near the truth."

"I know _that_," I sighed, though obviously I didn't. "She's still kinda sucking your life away."

"I haven't seen her in weeks," he argued, slipping on his shirt.

"Yes, it comes in bursts," I said. "You see her everyday for a few weeks, then you don't see her at all for a few weeks, then the cycle starts all over again."

"What else do I have to do?" he asked, starting to look annoyed. "Frankie, I can't sit here every waking moment of my life."

"I'm not saying you-"

I froze. Kind of like I do? Is that what he was going to say? Am I delusional, or did he really think that? But...then again...I do...just kinda sit here. That can't be normal.

"Nevermind," I grunted. "Just go."

He hesitated, then snatched up a jacket and wandered out.

Seriously...how could I just sit here? And...not become bored out of my mind....

*Sunrise - Black Stone Cherry

* * *

**M** **POV**

Did you know that you think four times faster than you speak? Well now you do, and so now I've probably successfully confused you. My point being: it's physically impossible for me to write all my thoughts down correctly immediately. If I can't speak as quickly as I can think, I definitely can't write as quickly as I can think, which means my writing probably has noticeably less emotion than my thoughts, hence why I hate for people to read my writing.

And I don't believe Gerard gets that.

"You put song lyrics in this chapter?" he asked.

"Well..._yeah_," I replied in my best "duh" voice.

He looked up at me with an expression of irritation. "Well, in your format, they could be taken as thoughts."

"That's why I put footnotes," I sneered.

He raised an eyebrow and turned back to read what I had written. I waited impatiently, trying to ignore the overwhleming scent of coffee. People in the coffee shop bustled about, seemingly unaware of our presence. Gerard, for some reason, insisted we do our business in the coffee shop. The only reason I agreed was because I intended to meet my friend in the library, a couple of blocks away.

Sighing, he brushed his hair back and folded the small stack of papers back up.

"It's good," he said, leaning back in his chair.

"Okay then," I said, trying for a smile. "So we're done?"

His forehead creased and his eyebrows furrowed. "You mean...you don't wanna..._socialize_?"

"With you?" I blurted out.

Gerard raised his eyebrows in an expression of shock. "I guess that's a 'no.'"

"Um," I hesitated, feeling slightly guilty. "No, it's just...I...don't-"

"Socialize?" he suggested.

"Hey!" I exclaimed, highly offended.

"No, you're right," he smirked. "You text a lot. I guess that counts."

I snatched the papers out of his hands and turned around to leave, when he jumped up and grabbed my arm to stop me.

"Where do you think you're going?" he asked, somehow looking worried.

"I'm leaving," I growled.

"It's not safe to be out there on your own," he argued.

"I won't be," I told him coldly. "I'm meeting someone-"

"Why don't I walk you?"

"Because I'm not a dog," I snapped, turning back around.

I walked out the door, only to have him follow me. It's not like I could fight him off; so I just ignored him...for a bit.

"Seriously?" I exclaimed, coming to a dead stop. "Why do you care?"

"Why do you _not_ care?" Gerard asked, sounding a bit annoyed.

"That's not an answer," I said coldly. "Trust me. I'm a big girl now; I can walk _all_ by myself."

"You may be a big girl," he agreed. "But there are bigger boys."

"I _know_ how to hit and run," I assured him.

"Wouldn't it just be simpler to-"

"Oh my God!" I yelled, now more than pissed off. "_Why do you care?_ Seriously, just _go!_"

"What is your _problem_?" Gerard snapped.

"You!" I screamed.

"You know what?" Gerard growled. "Fine! I _don't_ care! Whatever the _hell _your problem is, it's not my fault. I don't know why you think it's okay to be such a _bitch_ to everyone, but it's not! It's not okay! And in about ten years, you're gonna wind up alone and miserable, and wish you'd treated people a little differently."

I bit my lip, feeling my eyes narrow in loathing, though I held back my biting response.

"Just go," I hissed.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

**F** **POV**

"What'd you say after that?" I asked, thankful that he'd seemed so willing to forget about our earlier almost-fight.

"Well, I didn't say anything," he shrugged. "But I couldn't let her walk around down there alone. You know what that place is _like_? Even _she_ could get raped."

"Well, rapists typically don't pay attention to the personality," I noted cynically. "Sometimes they don't even pay much attention to the body. Did you hear about the granny-raper?"

"Ew," Gee groaned.

"Anyway, what did you do?"

You can see I'm _way_ too into this gossiping thing. I'm like a middle school girl when it comes to talking about bitches and jocks.

"I picked her up and dragged her to the library, listening to her curse me out every second. She needs to realize she's not invincible. She's pretty light, actually. Well, she's about four-eleven, so I should've expected that. But still."

I felt a smirk form on my lips as he continued talking about his day and the random things involved. He kept going off topic and would talk about something a subject would remind him of; because everyone knows how bad Gee's ADHD can get. Every now and then he'd ask me a question and actually wait for me to answer, which I would in turn then be forced to snap out of my world and speak. His artistic mind must have something to do with his chatter...of course, music falls into the art category and I don't talk that much. I don't think.

His eyes lit up about one thing in particular: french art. That's one of his favorite types of art, along with his cartoons. I don't know _how_ he went from Morgan's stubborn tendencies to french art, but he went on that for about ten minutes. Meanwhile, I listened to every other sentence to make sure he didn't expect me to interject or answer something, and tuned out otherwise. Something else had my attention; "something," meaning my recent dreams.

Some people believe dreams can predict the future. Religious people think they're God-given. Others believe they tell you about your feelings, or your desires.

My dreams never predicted the future...and I don't believe in God. Since I had no idea what they were, I doubted they reflected my desires...but then I hadn't considered whether my subconscious preferred symbolism.

I didn't really understand why I bothered; everytime I thought about it, I only caused myself more confusion. The lady in white made no sense to me, although she seemed as simple as a lyric. _How_ could I not understand a lyric? And the male voice whose figure never showed...yet still sent shivers down my spine.

I decided on a different approach, and tried to figure out when the dreams started. If I could, that is, as my memory had failed me lately.

"Frankie?"

Morgan.

"Are you listening?" Gee asked.

_That's _when it started.

"_Frankie_?"

"Whoa, what?" I jerked.

"Are you depressed?" he asked bluntly.

I needed to stay in the real world. But that _bitch_....


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

**F** **POV**

A shrink? A shrink? A _shrink_?

I _know_ he does not think he is sending me to the shrink. Just because I momentarily thought a regular thirteen-year-old girl had something to do with the freaky dreams I had at night...does not mean I'm crazy. It just meant I felt tired. I realized her appearance was a coincidence. We all have random, crazy-ass thoughts like that.

"I'm not crazy!" I yelled at Gerard as he attempted to gently take my hand and lead me out the door.

"I didn't say you were!" he assured me, gripping my hand tighter.

I tried to pull away, but he only pulled harder. So, I leaned back, in hopes I could fall down, and take him with me. Gee's stronger than he looks, though, especially when he's peeved.

"You implied it,"

"I'm just worried!" he groaned. "You can't sleep, you can't pay attention, you don't go anywhere-"

"I went to see Morg-"

"All are signs of depression! Except for your paranoia...."

"_Lies_!"

"You know damn well it's not!"

"I won't go!"

"Oh, you know you will," he said calmly.

"Another lie!" I swore. "You're a dammed liar, Gee!"

"Stand up straight, for-"

"Now you're using my sexuality against me?" I screamed.

"What the hell....?"

"You can't say anything, you're bi!"

"Uh...I know...."

"What, are you gonna preach the Bible at me next, you hypocrite?"

His expression flickered between confusion and amusement, and I took the opportunity to try another tug for freedom. No good. Gerard laughed and kept a tight grip on my hand. I stopped pulling as I got an idea.

"Don't you love me anymore?" I squeaked. "I always loved you, I thought you'd appreciate that! Wait...."

"See, you're so depressed, you can't even word your own arguments,"

"Who else's arguments would I word right now?" I shot back.

"Good point," he giggled. "But this is getting no where."

"Let's go no where _together_!" I stalled.

"_What_?"

"Come on, this is fun," I laughed.

"What's fun?"

"I dunno, that's the point,"

"See, this is why we live together,"

"I thought it was 'cause we have sex every night,"

"That, too,"

"Now?" I suggested.

"No, shrink now, sex later,"

"Fine," I agreed, heading toward the door.

"Told you so," he sung.

"You threatened me with sex," I defended myself.

"Bribed," he corrected.

"Whatever,"

* * *

Possibility of later sex aside, the damn shrink didn't even seem to know what he was talking about. He either thought he was a medical school grad, or just filling in, because every answer I gave him seemed to confuse him.

And I didn't even mention the voices.

Finally, he agreed with Gerard, and gave me a prescription for an anti-depressant. Just the fact that he came to the same conclusion as Gee told me he failed, but I wouldn't say something like that to my boyfriend. Whom I _swear_ I love, but happen to want to slap in the face sometimes.

"I still think he's wrong," I told Gee once we got back, and started unbuttoning his shirt.

"I don't, it explains why-"

"I haven't been able to sleep because I have weird dreams, okay?" I explained. "I'm tired because I haven't been able to sleep, I can't pay attention because I'm tired, and I don't go anywhere because there's no where to go. See? Not. Depression. I will not take mind altering drugs for something that is in a shrink's head."

"Yes, you will," he told me.

"They just wanna make money,"

"See? Conspiracy theorist,"

"Whatever," I sighed. "Time for anal penetration- I get to be on top this time."

* * *

Morgan and Gee must have either forgiven each other, or forgotten about their apparent fight, because a few days later, Gee headed over to see her. Determined to prove myself _not_ depressed, or in need of drugs, I went with him. He gave me a smirk, which slightly irritated me, as he obviously thought I _did_ take the drugs.

But I'd take care of that later.

I remembered how _Lord of the Rings-y_ her house felt to me, with the low ceiling and pottery. Somehow it seemed even more so that day, though I could tell it hadn't changed.

She greeted us and led us inside, uncharacteristically nice. She must have subconsciously realized she was wrong. Or had a very dirty scene going through her mind....

Maybe that's just how I work.

Once she pulled up her writing, she again disappeared behind her mysterious door. It seemed normal, but as she turned around, I saw a look in her eyes that almost scared me. An excited look.

"What was that about?" I asked Gee once she left.

"I was just wondering the same thing," he muttered, a perplexed expression on his face. "Hey, this is the first chapter, you wanna read it?"

"Sure," I said. "What did she just edit it?"

"No, she's a J.K. Rowling,"

"Sweet,"

Amazing how I understood that. Of course, we have more...off...conversations than that one everyday. _Way_ more off. I'd like to say we could have silent conversations, but we're not quite _that_ advanced. We have to at least grunt.

Okay, that might have sounded awkward, but you know I didn't mean that. Or _did_ I? Or maybe I'm scaring you. I tend to do that....

Anyway.

After we'd read about half of the chapter, I heard Morgan come back out. Her story seemed a little too complicated for me to follow, so I couldn't really tell you if it was good or not. She really liked the foreshadowing element.

"What are you doing in there?" Gee asked bluntly.

"Science fair project," she said.

I turned to find her smirking...quite menacingly. I jerked back around, then turned back, almost as a reflex.

"What the hell?" I blurted out.

Her gaze flicked toward me and she frowned. "What?"

"You have a smirk on your face like you're planning to gouge our eyes out with a bubble wand," I said, afraid she'd slap me for saying that.

Surprisingly, she laughed.

"Wow, Frankie, that was morbid," Gee said. "Have you been taking your Zoloft?"

"Zoloft?" Morgan repeated. "You're depressed?"

"Wow, Gee, thanks for exposing my very private misconceptions,"

"Not a misconception," Gee corrected. "And I take that as a no."

"I don't need drugs,"

He _would_ take my comment literally, wouldn't he? He would _also_ mention my drugs in front of Morgan, wouldn't he?

I did my best to glare at him, but he kept his eyes trained on the computer screen, reading Morgan's chapter.

"I don't think he appreciates you," Morgan said, as if it weren't obvious enough.

"That would make two of you, wouldn't it?" Gee said with a hint of a smile.

"Indeed," Morgan and I said in unison.

I looked at her as she half glared, half smirked at me. So maybe she didn't _completely_ hate the world.

"Whatever," Gee giggled. "I've gotta take a piss."

Morgan now had a full on smirk on her face, obviously trying not to laugh as Gee got up and went to the bathroom. Suddenly, I felt unbelievably uncomfortable alone with her. Not that I thought she would kill me, although her attitude suggested I shouldn't be surprised if she tried.

"That has to be the most masculine thing I've ever heard him say," she said once he left.

"Well," I said. "I think it's the most masculine thing _I've_ ever heard him say."

"Heh," she half laughed, probably feeling just as awkward as I felt.

While she pulled up a third chair, I mentally searched for something to say to her. Then I wondered if I even needed to say anything, or if she was the type who felt perfectly happy just sitting in silence.

Oh God. Why was she smirking at me like that? She did realize-

_I'll just skip the small creepy talk. Let me finish my dreams, why don't you?_

I tried to react. I really did. But truthfully, I don't know _what_ I did after that.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

**F** **POV**

_Don't cry...whatever you do...don't cry...why do you even want to cry, anyway? Of all the things, why cry? Or maybe you're just thinking about crying- were you really about to cry? Okay, now I'm confused...wait..._

"Frankie?" Gee asked as we pulled out of Morgan's driveway. "You okay? Did she say something?"

"Uh...I don't know," I told him truthfully. "I...don't know."

Gee wasn't the type of person to blatantly laugh at people if they told him strange things...as long as they said them seriously. He always took me seriously at the right times. But I still couldn't bring myself to tell him what was _really_ going on. How could I tell him I kept hearing voices? I couldn't. That was _too_ intense.

"What's wrong, babe?" he asked.

"I...don't know," I said again.

"Seriously, did you take your medic-"

"God_dammit_, Gerard, I don't need _fucking_ _medication_!" I snapped.

His expression quickly flickered to a hurt one, and he swerved a tiny bit on the road. In order to regain control, he snapped his gaze toward the road, and kept it there

"I'm sorry," I squeaked, shocked with myself. "I'm sorry, Gee, sweetie, I'm sorry."

"Just take your damn pills," he said morosely.

"I'm sorry," I murmured again.

He didn't respond, but I saw his expression change again, back to concern.

I bit my tongue, angry with myself. But there was the anger again. How did I become so angry? And _why_? Maybe I really _did_ need medication.

But I really didn't think that was it.

It was Morgan. It was _her_ fault. And funny enough, I actually _had_ known all along. This wasn't even the _cliché_ "I knew it," it was the legit "I knew it." Of course, how could I tell Gerard? He'd think he needed to commit me. But he knew Morgan existed, and _Morgan_ had said things. She'd said..._things_.

Shit, I felt so scared. What was _going_ _on_? I knew Morgan had something to do with it, but she wouldn't say anything, obviously. Was she evil? Had she ever said anything truthful? Was she even _thirteen_?

Gerard would definitely think I was schizophrenic. Definitely. _I_ wasn't even sure. But then I guess that meant I was normal. But did all normal people think they were crazy? And did all crazy people think they were normal? See, now she had just messed up my mind. I didn't even have my own _thought_ process anymore.

But maybe that was it! Maybe I had _her_ thought process, which would explain the anger and snapping, and why I could hear her thoughts. It would explain a lot, actually. But did I _really_ think that was it? Or maybe I should have been asking if _she_ _wanted_ me to think that was it. Because if I had her thoughts or her thought process, then whatever she would want me to think I would think. Would she want me to get that far ahead in our minds and suspect something awkward going on that had something to do with thinking? But then would I even be thinking _that_?

What _was_ I thinking? Did it even matter to me anymore? Why did I look so pale?

Oh, yeah...Morgan scared the shit outta me earlier. With our thought process. Would I ever think of it as _my_ thought process again? Okay, honestly, she _cannot_ have a thought process like this. Even I can't handle it.

I looked at Gerard, who still looked upset, and I remembered why I cared in the first place. She made me hurt Gee. I loved Gee more than anything; I couldn't stand that. I _wouldn't _stand that.

* * *

**M** **POV**

I didn't care if it was morally right or not, I listened to Frank's thoughts. It seemed amazing how _completely_ A.D.D. he was sometimes. He was _so_ on the wrong track...whenever he could even _find_ a track. Somehow, maybe due to the tainted musician's brain his father gave him, the possibility of simple telepathy _totally_ evaded him.

Of course, I guess you can't call it _simple_. But the shit he was thinking was _way_ more complicated than telepathy.

And I didn't _make_ him hurt his boyfriend. He did that on his own. Maybe at least his boyfriend thought it was a symptom of the non-existent depression, which was sincerely non-existent. Frank's symptoms of depression, actually _were_ my fault. I gave him the dreams somehow. I never really understood how I could do that without being near him. Probably because I made him.

Or...rather...the duplicate.

It didn't really matter. The dreams prevented him from sleeping, lack of sleep made him tired, being tired made him not pay attention - along with his A.D.D. - and so on and so forth. And he was right; he didn't go anywhere, because there wasn't any damn place to go.

If anything, Gerard was the one who needed help, because I _swear_ he was always high. Truthfully, it was kinda amusing sometimes.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Sorry, I get this chapter is a little weird...like I wrote it stoned, or something, but I assure you, that's not the case. I just needed everyone's reactions out of the way.**

Chapter 9

**F** **POV**

"I'm sorry, Gee," I said again.

"Baby, it's fine," he repeated, kissing me on the forehead. "Just get some sleep, okay? I'm gonna get some ice."

I nodded, still guilty about acting so harsh. He left the room, and I headed toward the bed.

* * *

"_Back again?" the woman in white said._

"_I'm sick of you!" I exclaimed._

"_Well, no need to be so rude," she replied calmly._

"_Where am I?" I asked._

"_In a lovely world,"_

_A lake flashed before me, as jet black as my lover's hair. Macabre mermaids swam on the other side of the lake, taunting me. An echoic cackle sounded, along with an infuriated growl._

"_Don't go in the center of the lake," the woman told me._

"_I wasn't even planning on swimming," I said._

"_No one ever plans those things,"_

_It was my turn to cackle. "You need to get help."_

_

* * *

_

I sat up, completely awake and frustrated.

_Would you let me finish this time? _a familiar voice rang in my head.

_Get out of my fucking head! _I thought, horrified. _Morgan, I fucking know it's you, get out! I don't want this, I don't want this, I don't want this._

_Calm down,_

_STOP IT! STOP IT, MAKE IT STOP!_

"No," I whimpered, tears of fear and heartache rolling down my face. "Please, no. Don't make me tell Gerard."

"Tell me what, babe?"

I jerked toward him, now even more terrified. How could I tell him? Screw that, I had to.

"Babe, what's wrong, why are you crying?"

"Did you hear her?" I asked, hoping I wasn't the only one.

A concerned look immediately crossed his face. "Who?"

"You didn't," I gasped.

"No- Frankie, sweetie...what's wrong?"

"Gee...voices talk to me," I sobbed.

His mouth opened slightly, just before I wrapped my arms around his neck to sob.

* * *

**M POV**

"I'm sorry," I muttered to Gerard as he read my writing with a blank face.

"What?" Gerard asked, more out of confusion than deafness.

"You know...you're right," I conceded, referring to the night we'd sincerely fought. "My problem isn't your fault. It's not Frank's, either."

"Um..." Gerard hesitated, obviously confused as to why I was acting up like that.

"But..." I paused, licking my lips. "It _does _revolve around you. Around you both."

Gerard's expression immediately became concerned, and a little creeped out, too.

"What...what are you saying?" he squeaked. "If it's because we're gay-"

"It's not that, idiot!" I snapped. "It's...you know what, ask Frank. You'd believe him before you'd believe me."

"Frankie knows? What does he know?" he gasped, expression now appalled.

"He knows more than you," I told him.

"Just...you're just trying to freak me out, aren't you?" he asked, beginning to smirk.

How did I manage to get so much emotion out of him in such a short time?

I shook my head and sighed. Why did I do this to myself? I knew he'd never listen.

"Gah, I can't believe I fell for that," he chuckled.

I heard the familiar sound of his phone receiving a text.

"It's Frank," I predicted, hearing his voice sound through my head. "He's telling you to listen."

I looked back over toward Gerard, his eyes getting wider as he read the text several times.

He looked back up at me, freezing in shock.

Suddenly, as would be expected, he bolted away from me, grabbing his jacket and racing out the door.

* * *

**F** **POV**

I expected him to be a little emotional when he got home...maybe a little mad that I knew something and didn't tell him...but what was I supposed to do?

"Frank," he called, sounding scarily innocent.

Leaving my hiding spot, I revealed myself to him, in turn getting full blast of the face that seemed so...so apathetic.

"I know what you're thinking," I said.

"Oh, well you must," he said, folding his arms.

"Okay, that...I said that wrong," I corrected myself.

"So you don't," he pressed.

"No," I assured him.

"What was Morgan talking about?" he demanded, walking past me.

"I really don't know," I promised, feeling more and more terrified by him. "I swear. I don't."

He spun around, beginning to show more emotion.

"Then why did Morgan mention you? Does this have something to do with-"

"Gee...I can't-"

"Tell me," he spat.

"The voice...it's hers," I whispered.

He bit his lip and shook his head, obviously furious.

I put my hand timidly on his shirt, meaning to draw him closer. "Gee, baby, I swear-"

"Don't," he gritted through his teeth, storming past me.

"Gee!"

He ignored me, leaving the room with a slam of the door.

"Gee," I groaned. "Where are you even going?"

* * *

**M** **POV**

Gerard didn't even knock this time. He just burst through the door, livid as hell.

"You're gonna kill the environment single-handedly if you keep driving back and forth like that," I said.

"Leave Frankie alone," he growled. "I dunno what you're doing, I dunno what's _going_ _on_, but _do_ _not_ mess with him!"

"I'm not messing with him," I said.

"Tell me what's going on!"

"Calm _down_," I said, annoyed.

"Like _hell_ I'm gonna calm down! What the _fuck_ is going on, Morgan? Frankie might be a good actor, but I can tell when he's lying and he's not!"

"I'm willing to tell you, _if you calm down_,"

He looked from me to the wall, obviously _not_ calm, but I could tell he was trying to _act_ calm...which was just as good. He crossed his arms and looked at me expectantly.

"You're not real," I said bluntly.

He raised one eyebrow and started smirking. His lip quivered and I could tell he was holding back laughter.

"What the fuck is this?" he giggled, now sincerely unable to hold it in. "I get I can be gullible sometimes, but this was just an unnecessary evil."

"You wanted to know what was going on, I'm just telling you," I said, half amused and half annoyed. "You're not real. No- I'm sorry, you're not _supposed_ to be real. You _are_ actually real."

He erupted into a fit of laughter.

"Believe me-"

"Make me," he dared.

"Oh, I could, but it'd be really uncomfortable for you,"

He rolled his eyes. "You both planned this when I went to the bathroom."

"Wow, you're paranoid," I laughed.

"Paranoid because I don't believe you and Frank have telepathic powers that somehow links to me not being real?"

"_That_ is not what I said," I argued. "Neither you _or_ Frank are _supposed_ to be real."

"Right...what's going on with Frankie?"

"I just told you,"

"No, you didn't," he argued.

"Okay, go back home until your four morphologically defined regions remember their purpose in your neurons," I spat, unsure where that burst of scientific knowledge had come from.

He raised one eyebrow again. "You are one strange child."

"Go fuck your brother,"

"I don't have a brother,"

"Yes you do,"

"That's beside the point!" he snapped.

He kept yelling at me, not in the least bit noticing when I forced myself in his mind. He stopped yelling. I'd confused him. Through a little bit more effort, I confused him enough to get him to leave.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

**F** **POV**

Gerard came home angry...but, surprisingly, not at me, though he _did_ completely ignore my questions and comments. Gerard fell asleep immediately, exhausted with the days events, but I took more time to follow suit.

* * *

"_You know I wouldn't ever burn your Knight," I smiled, holding the wooden chess piece up against the Television glow._

"_You'd better not ever burn my Knight,"_

"_You know Ron Weasley plays chess...I bet he could beat you,"_

"_I bet not!"_

"_I beg to differ!" I scoffed._

"_You're not begging hard enough,"_

_A smile tugged at my lips and a blush crept up on my face._

_

* * *

_

I woke up relieved to finally have a dream with _normal_ aspects of my _normal_ life in it; with Gerard and Harry Potter to be exact. Gerard doesn't play chess, but it's still a hell of a lot more normal than those other dreams.

But then I noticed something else that seemed even stranger than any of my previous dreams. The bed. The bed felt hard...cold...and _wet_. It was pitch black, without even the moon shining through the window. It didn't take much mental power for me to figure out that I hadn't woken up in the same place where I'd fallen asleep.

A familiar hiss came from behind me, and I believed I was back in my dream world.

"Gerard?" I called.

I got no response, but I heard a small moan over to my left. I crawled over there, feeling for his sleeping body as I went. Grass, I realized, was what I had woken up on.

"Babe?"

Still no response. I kept crawling, hoping my eyes would adjust to the darkness. They never did.

I heard Gee wake with a sharp gasp just as I found his hand.

"Gee?"

"Frankie?"

"I'm here,"

"Where are we?" he whimpered.

"I dunno," I admitted.

My heart accelerated as the cold bit at my arms. I was uncomfortable, so I should have started to think it wasn't a dream...but I'd had dreams that made me uncomfortable before. Plus, I was too stubborn.

Then, suddenly, daylight flickered into sight. The sky had not a cloud in sight...but no sun, either. A field of flowers several yards away caught my attention next. It was small...and the flowers weren't simply roses or daisies. They were paper. Similar to those I'd always imagined in the Evanescence song "Imaginary." Rectangular, vertical, wooden booths lined up on the right side of the field, facing away from us. On the left side stood a clump of trees.

Several more yards behind us I saw a lone oak tree, bearing several deeps gashes on both of it's sides. A forest formed around that tree, several hundred yards away, in a U-shape.

I was busy looking around us for any sign of danger when Gerard suddenly grabbed my wrist. I jerked around to face him, and saw him pointing to field in front of us. At first I didn't see anything, but then I understood what he was seeing without having to see it myself.

The booths. I'd seen them in my dreams when I talked to the woman in white. I willed myself to wake, but it didn't happen.

"Gerard? Frank?" I heard a male voice to our left.

We looked over to see a tall man with short brown hair staring at us apprehensively.

"Who are you?" Gee asked, since I was at a loss for words.

"I'm...Mike," he said. "And...you're not supposed to be out here."

"_Well we didn't fucking choose to be out here!_" Gerard snapped.

"I know...she said that was her fault," he muttered.

"_She_?"

"Yeah...she told me to bring you inside,"

"Where are we?" I finally spoke up.

"Miracea," Mike told us. "She didn't explain much to you, did she?"

"If you're talking about Morgan, then no," I said calmly, though my heart flew in my chest.

"She's weird like that,"

I stood, not bothering to come up with anything to say. Gerard obviously felt too emotional to respond, but somehow still managed to stand up and follow Mike. I slipped my hand in Gee's and squeezed it, trying to keep his anger and fear down.

Mike led us behind the clump of trees, toward a small round cottage. It seemed completely normal. Until we went inside it.

Inside looked...huge. Actually, it reminded me of an empty club. Which in turn reminded me of the part in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire where Harry goes into the tent and it turns out ten times bigger on the inside than it looked on the outside.

And there Morgan sat, at a table in a corner, with a blithe expression on her face, writing something down in a notebook. She glanced up, then smirked at us. Like this situation was fucking funny.

Then, of course, Gerard had to go ballistic. He ripped his hand away from me and stormed up to her and just started screaming.

"What, are you trying to prove something? I believe you, okay? I fucking believe you! Now leave us alone!"

I followed my boyfriend, hoping to stop him from doing anything stupid. Even if it was just taking a beer bottle away. If you know what I mean.

"I can't," she said. "Sometimes I really wish I could, but I can't. We're too…connected."

She looked at me after she said that, sending a shiver down my spine.

"Where are we?" I asked, trying to keep my voice steady.

"Mike already told you that," she said.

"But…I still don't…I don't understand," I said, taking Gee's hand again.

"Another world," she said. "Inside earth, but invisible to anyone who doesn't belong."

"Were we here all along?" I asked.

"No," she said. "You should have been, though."

Something finally snapped. She meant for us to _stay_ here.

_Yes, Frank, I mean for you to stay here,_

"_Get_ _out_ _of_ _my_ _head_!" I growled. "We're not staying here!"

"Well you can't _leave_ here," she said.

"Bitch!" I cried.

"Frank-"

"You can't do this!" Gerard hissed.

"I have to,"

"I swear to God, if you do not-"

"Just listen," she interrupted me.

"No, you know what, I don't even care what the fuck you're doing, just leave us alone!" Gerard screamed.

Suddenly my line of vision became hazy, and started fading, like I would faint. I dropped Gerard's hand and leaned on a chair. All noise started fading away, although I could vaguely hear Gerard saying my name. But I couldn't answer, because it all went black.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

I woke to find Gerard and myself in a bed...in a hotel room. Not _our _hotel room, but a different one. A bigger one. A more luxurious one.  
I flung the covers off and went to the door. By just peeking outside, it still seemed like a hotel. I opened the door and flipped the lock over in order to block it from closing. The indoor balcony stood only a yard or so away from the door. I went over to peer down, only to see the exact same club in which I had passed out.  
My heartbeat increased and my mind suffocated me with thoughts, while my body remained paralyzed. It wasn't a dream. _This _time, it wasn't a dream.  
I backed up slowly into the room I'd come from, and plopped next to Gerard.  
"Gee...baby, wake up," I said.  
He moaned slightly, but opened his eyes nonetheless.  
"Gee...it wasn't a dream...and you were totally right, Morgan's a _bitch_,"  
"I dun get it," he moaned, obviously too confused to follow me.  
"Ugh, you are _completely _useless!" I exclaimed.  
"I'm tired," he whined.  
"Sweetheart, we're in a different world, you don't have time to be tired,"  
"What?"  
"Miracea, remember?"  
"You're not making any sense...I haven't had coffee,"  
"There might not _be _any coffee here," I told him.  
That, at least, got him to sit up, and put on a confused "are we for fucking real right now?" expression.  
"I'm gonna go find coffee," he said, getting out of bed.  
"You don't even know where you are!"  
"I'm gonna go find coffee," he repeated.  
"I'm coming with you," I said.  
"Coffee," he repeated, taking my hand.  
"Yes, sweetie, coffee,"  
We took a left, which miraculously led us to the stairwell. Gerard has this really weird thing about walking down stairs in the morning, before his coffee, that makes him confused enough to _not really_ know what they are, and what they're doing there. He walks down them fine, but...they still confuse the utter crap out of him.  
Once we reached the bottom, arms linked together, I looked around for any sign of life. More specifically, life with coffee. Then I saw Morgan near something that looked like a bar on the right side of the stage, and I let out a groan of anger.  
Knowing we had to confront her sooner or later, and figuring we might as well confront her with the possibility of coffee, I led Gee over toward her.  
"No," he whined.  
"She probably knows where the coffee is," I said.  
"No," he pouted.  
"Morgan," I sung.  
She looked up and smirked once she saw me. She hopped over the counter onto the other side of the bar, and started pouring black liquid into two huge cups.  
Who knew she could have a civil side.  
_Do you want coffee or not?_  
_Can you at least give me a warning before you do that?_ I thought, hoping she could hear _that _as well.  
At least hearing her didn't send me into a panic attack any more.  
_I'll give you more than a warning...I'll give you a way to block it,_  
Block it?  
"Coffee," Gee said happily, drawing one of the cups toward him.  
We sat for a few minutes, sipping our coffee peacefully while Morgan cleaned up the bar. Then she broke the silence.  
"You want a tour today?"  
Gee sighed, apparently finally realizing that fighting with her would get him no where.  
"A tour of inside and outside? And an explanation?" he asked.  
"Inside and an explanation," she said.  
"And outside," he added.  
"No," she said.  
"Why not?" he asked.  
"It's not safe out there," she explained.  
"How so?" he seemed curious now.  
"There are...creatures,"  
"We didn't see any the last time we were out there,"  
"I distracted them,"  
"So do that again,"  
"They're only _so _stupid, Gerard,"  
"Well, if you control them, which apparently you do, then...threaten them or something,"  
"I don't _control _them...fine, I'll show you _part _of outside. But you can't wander; you have to stay close to me. Good enough for you?"  
"Yep," he said.

* * *

Morgan put off taking us outside until she absolutely had no other place to take us. She started by giving us both a set of two keys. I felt a little edgy when I noticed one of them was for a different room.  
"I know you two...like...live together," Morgan said. "But since you aren't technically married..."  
"Well, we technically _can't _get married," Gee said, trying to hide his annoyance.  
"Why not?" Morgan asked, smirking.  
Gee and I exchanged confused glances, while Morgan started walking. We hurried to catch up to her, and the so called "tour" began.

* * *

**A/N: Frankie's too stressed out to be a full blown gay yet. Just wait.**

**Oh, and Miracea is pronounced "Mer-AH-kee-uh".**


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Morgan led us back upstairs, past the floor we'd woken up on and the third floor. She stopped at the fifth floor - apparently the fourth could only be reached by elevator - which really just looked like a small computer room.  
"This...is exactly what it looks like," she said. "Moving on."  
The sixth floor was a long, slightly confining hall with several doors on the sides.  
"Every door leads to a painting room," Morgan told us. "No paper, no pencils; just paint and the walls."  
Gerard's lips twitched upward at the thought.  
She led us down the hall, toward the elevator. Once inside the elevator, I finally noticed something that actually seemed different. There weren't buttons with floor numbers on them. Instead, there was a key pad that Morgan typed numbers into, similar to a cell phone.  
She looked at me and scoffed. "Psh. I don't know how many floors I have."  
Because who would have expected _that_, right? I mean, she only fucking _owns _the place. I think. But maybe her dad or something owns it. Who knows.  
"No one _owns _this place, Frank," she said, leading us out of the elevator. "Just because I _created _it, doesn't mean I _own _it."  
"Yeah, when are you going to teach me the whole _blocking _thing? 'Cause that's getting _super _annoying right now,"  
"Oh my God, _super_?" she mocked.  
"Shut _up_,"  
"You...made it?" Gee asked in confusion, probably wondering why I wasn't more curious about that. "Like...in your head?"  
"Yep," she said, oh-so casually. "This is the fourth floor."  
We probably should have felt more baffled about the fact that she made an _entire world in her head_. But really, at that point, she'd put us through enough that _I_, at least, knew to just take her word for it and move on. And besides...what other useful option was there? Gerard, however, I think was still skeptical of everything. Like he thought she was just a cute little kid telling stories.  
Of course, who could blame him? I mean, if I was in any other situation and someone told me they had an entire world in their head, I'd totally say, "Sure...and I've got an entire monkey in my ass." And that's probably exactly what Gerard was thinking. But he didn't have her in his head.  
The fourth floor was a freaky white room with doors lined up against the right and left walls like in Monster's Inc. In front of us, in the far left corner, was a lone wood door.  
"The instruments are all behind that door," Morgan said.  
"What kind of instruments?" Gee asked suspiciously.  
"Musical,"  
"Ohmigad!" I squealed.

* * *

Apparently, the cottage had just about fucking _everything_. There must have been at least 25 different floors, if not more. From science labs to forest floors, this place had every fucking stage of human evolution.  
The last stop before we forced Morgan to take us outside was the bottom floor, below the club - or the "main" level, as Morgan called it. Once we reached the bottom of the stairs Morgan pointed to our right.  
"Infirmary-slash-hospital," she said.  
"Why do you have stairs to an infirmary?" I asked. "That's kind of...an epic fail in a way, isn't it?"  
"There's more than an infirmary down here," she said, pointing to the left.  
"A jail?" Gerard laughed. "Have a bunch of convicts in your head, Morgan?"  
She smirked. "Quite a few, actually."  
Just before Morgan and I started back up the stairs, I saw Gee roll his eyes. I tried to shoot him a warning look, which he responded with a "what the fuck did _I_ do?" look.  
Once we got to the main level again, Morgan pointed at a table and told us to sit.  
"Before we go outside," she said. "I guess I should explain some things to you. I've already told you this is a different world. It's inside earth...but not quite connected to earth. And those who don't belong can't see it, touch it, _anything_."  
"And you created it?" I interrupted. "In your mind?"  
"Yeah...and...apparently...my mind's slightly...abstract,"  
In other words, she's fucked up like the rest of us.  
"Outside's where that shows the most," she continued, either ignoring my thoughts or oblivious to them. "See, there's two parts to this world: outside, and the cottage. The cottage is the safe shelter you've just seen that contains _civil _life. Outside is the unpredictable chaos that contains unbalanced, thoughtless life. So, between each life out there...or...group...I put boundaries. There's an invisible line they can't cross, so that they don't tear each other to shreds. The reason no one can go out there is that...it's pointless, basically. You spend the entire time searching for the invisible line you have to pass in order to survive, and then, when and if you find one that brings you to safety, you're trapped."  
"How exactly did you...manage to create this world?" Gee asked.  
"I'm an Illusionist," she said.  
"Like...a magician?" he asked.  
"No, fool. Magicians use the laws of physics no one bothered to learn...Illusionists use real magic. Except Illusionists, as the name would suggest, can only create illusions. Our magic isn't like a witch or wizard's magic. It's more specific. It can only affect brains."  
"Erm...gemme an example," I said.  
"The occipital lobe controls vision...if I wanted to, I could invade that area of your brain with magic, and give you the illusion of being blind. The cerebellum controls movement...I could invade that area and give the illusion that you're paralyzed. The brain stem controls vital functions...I could stop your heart, restrict your breathe...of course doing so would in turn kill me as well, so I can't do that. Likewise, I can affect objects, but trying to control an object with the magic would only end up destroying the object somehow, because of its lack of a brain."  
Gerard was obviously having a hard time containing himself. He smirked widely, and eventually covered his mouth in order to hide it.  
"And how does being an Illusionist give you a world of your own?" I asked for him.  
"There are a lot of different theories...some think there's so much power, you can't live in the real world without someone noticing it 'leak out of you'...some think the power just gives you something in return for dealing with it...and some think it's just where the power came from, and it morphed into whatever the mind of the carrier chose, subconsciously or not. Personally, the last one seems most likely to me."  
"Uh-huh..." Gee muttered. "So, basically the outside's dangerous...let's go."  
Morgan rolled her eyes and smirked as he hopped out of his chair and started towards the door to the outside.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Morgan skipped in front of us, toward the door. It seemed slightly shocking and somehow vaguely cute to see her skip. I felt like that was something I should blackmail her with.  
"No offense," I said, though I knew saying that alone would offend her. "But the 'Exit' sign is a little cheesy."  
"I don't see how it's cheesy here and not in a movie theater," she argued, opening the door.  
"Well...here it's supposed to be...not the real world," Gee said. "Right?"  
"Wrong," she said. "_Here _it's supposed to be whatever it happens to be."  
"_Damn_," I said. "_That _was even _cheesier_."  
"Merely stating a fact," she said. "The best creations are the ones that create themselves."  
"You're really fond of that Exit sign, aren't you?" I asked.  
And to that she sincerely laughed. I have to say, hearing her laugh is like seeing a raindrop bounce. It's so amazing because it_just. Doesn't. Happen._  
"Yes. Yes I am," she said.  
Then, for the first time I actually noticed the plane in front of me, and again, I didn't understand. It looked completely normal. Sort of. Short, Savannah grass, that slowly brightened to healthy green grass about one hundred yards away. There, between the two separate clusters of woods, was the clearing Gerard and I had woken only a day ago.  
"Actually, less than a day, Frankie," Morgan said. "You woke here around two in the morning, then slept upstairs until around eight in the morning...now it's around ten. You didn't seriously think you were out for _that long_, did you?"  
"I dunno, but I _did_ think you'd get the fuck outta my head,"  
"Wait...but it was daylight when we woke," Gee pointed out.  
"_Yeah,_" I said. "After the whole freaky no light trick, it was daylight."  
"It never changes outside," she explained. "It's always as bright as day, without the glare of the sun."  
"That's depressing," Gee said, as we started toward the clearing.  
I giggled and let go of his hand in order to link our arms and hug him close.  
"I really don't see the big deal," he said.  
"It isn't a big deal _here_," she said. "Here you're safe. It's over there-" she pointed toward the clearing. "-that's dangerous to you."  
Then I heard a soprano voice singing close by, but I couldn't see a singer. I just assumed we had finally encountered something strange, and the outside had some sort of freaky wind music magic or something.

_Angel's wings why can't I see?  
Who are you to run from me?  
You will see that I can find,  
A way to break your shredded mind,_

Wait for me, oh Angel dear,  
I will take your last tear,

"That's Emma," Morgan said. "She's...strange. Not dangerous, at least to you, or even technically crazy...just strange."  
She led us to the left, into the field of paper flowers - Morgan _so_ took that idea from Evanescence - and I saw her. The _fucking woman in white_.  
She turned and immediately broke out into a smile when she saw us. I forgot my nervousness about finally _legitimately_ meeting her when I saw her arms. They looked like they'd endured self-mutilation, and never healed; they still bled profusely.  
I could tell Gee's gaze was on them, too.  
"Ah...duplicates,"  
"What is she talking about?" I asked, still eying her arms.  
"What was that you were singing?" Morgan asked, looking concerned.  
Emma's eyes narrowed. "I dedicate it to my neighbor. He's getting sick of the other songs."  
"Ah..." Morgan looked around nervously, then turned to us. "Yeah- okay, happy? See, building-ish-things, a stage that's never been used - it's fascinating. Let's go."  
Ah...so there was a stage. Across from the tiny-festival-clown-box-like-things, which had hidden it from me before, there was a small wooden stage. Actually, the entire building set up reminded me of a miniature, abandoned festival.  
"No," Gee said. "We still haven't seen any devils."  
"The point of you coming with me was so that you _wouldn't_ see any 'devils,'" Morgan said.  
"I need to know why this place is so dangerous," he said, though I knew it was more of a need to know why he should believe her.  
"I can take you to the lake, but after that we need to go back,"  
Gee smiled triumphantly as she headed toward the wide path on the opposite side of the U-shaped forest. In the middle of the path, she stopped and veered off to the left. The lake immediately caught our attention.  
For me, because I'd also seen _it_ in a dream. For Gee, simply because of its color.  
"It's _black_," he said.  
"I see all those years of art school paid off," Morgan said.  
Without really thinking, I bent down and put my hand in the water and studied the drops that remained on my hand once I took it out.  
"Frankie, don't do that!" Gee said.  
"Yeah, that's not really smart. I mean, not dangerous...but still not smart,"  
"It's red," I stated.  
"Good job," Morgan said. "Now that you've both passed the identifying colors portion of the test, let's go."  
"Mermaids?" Gee asked.  
"God, you have A.D.D.," she muttered.  
A grunt from behind interrupted us.  
"Here we go," Morgan said.  
Only about four yards away, stood a _creature_...something I hadn't seen in my dreams before. It looked at least nine feet tall, it had short brown hair all over its insanely muscular body, which looked like a cross between a man and a bear...and the strangest thing, it had no face. It had a head, just no face. Only hair...or fur.  
It grunted again, then reached around to the back of its head...and with a crack, the creature _pulled it off_.  
"Holy fuck," I whispered.  
The severed flesh seemed to move, and what looked like _legs_ spread out to its sides. Then the creature hurled it at us.  
I cried out, but before the part of the head could reach us, it caught fire, and exploded. The creature grunted again, turned his back on us, and walked away.  
A couple of moments passed in silence as the shock subsided. I tried to ask Morgan what just happened, but I couldn't figure out what to say.  
"You believe me now, Gerard?" she asked, smirking.  
He kept staring for a moment at where the head had exploded, then nodded.  
"Let's go," Morgan said.  
We followed her, now without reluctance.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Peeeeze comment?**

Chapter 14

_The pain was too much, but he didn't care. He wanted to open up my virgin body. He kept going and going, until I felt that horrifying feeling in my womb. He stayed on top of me for a while, breathing heavily-_

Not my thoughts. Not. My. Thoughts. This was going to take some time to get used to. I didn't even think they were Morgan's. The thoughts contained neither of us - ah...but Morgan was a writer. That was probably just a _scene _going through her head.  
Gerard and I sat in a weeping willow, on the forest floor, when her thoughts interrupted mine.  
"How did we not even suspect anything?" I asked, still trying to shake off the rape scenario.  
"She controlled our environment," he said.  
Yeah, she controlled what we saw, technically. But how could she have controlled what I thought. Well...maybe she could control _my _thoughts, but she shouldn't have been able to control Gerard's thoughts. Unless she made it so I only _thought _that-_no_. I'm not even going to go there. I can't really know until...Ah! I didn't even let her explain the telepathy to me. Or the blocking shit.  
But we were talking about how we were so oblivious. So, anywho-  
"But..." Gee hesitated. "I should've realized. I mean...I can't remember a time that wasn't like this. A time where...being next to you didn't make me feel like I had wings. A time where being away from you didn't rip a hole through my heart."  
I was about to make a comment about the soap-opera tone to this conversation, but I stopped myself, realizing...he wasn't attempting flattery. He was trying to make a point.  
"And a time where," he continued, voice beginning to break. "We were ever condemned for this."  
What he meant...a time that was never suspiciously perfect.

* * *

"You coming to bed, babe?" Gee asked.  
"No, I think I'm gonna go wander around the cemetery a bit," I said.  
"All right," he said, giving me a kiss. "I'll see you in the morning."  
"Night, baby," I flashed him a grin.  
His lips twitched upward in a half-smile, as he shut the door.  
I shot downstairs before he could call me out on my lie.

See, I was never one to follow rules. So I didn't pay any attention to Morgan's words about not coming back to that part of her world without her. I knew it was dangerous, but I had to find those other voices in my dreams. Shit, if Morgan was going to let me hear the voices, she should have expected me to want to see who produced them. And it's not like I would go farther than what she showed me. None of the voices I heard _were _farther than what she showed me.

For the first time since arriving, the main floor was packed. Some band I'd never heard of was playing weird 50s sounding music on stage, while everyone else was dancing in the middle of the room.  
I slipped outside, hoping no one had noticed. Everyone there must have had a mental rule not to let anyone other than Morgan go outside. I decided to use the first thing I ever really noticed as a sort of compass.  
The field of paper flowers.  
There was something interesting about that place that caught my attention. Something strangely soothing about it.  
"Lost?" a female voice spoke. "You're not supposed to be here."  
"I know," I answered, looking up.  
I jumped in shock. I'd expected to see the woman in white next to me; I'd forgotten she was like a fucking ventriloquist. As I got closer, I saw the woman was _still _bleeding profusely from her wrists, but she didn't seem to notice.  
I opened my mouth to say something, but nothing would come out.  
"You should go back before Morgan finds you," she told me, no louder than she had been before.  
"She..." I paused, distracted by her wrists. "Don't you wanna fix-"  
"No," she interrupted me, then turned around and disappeared from sight.  
Finally, I heard the echoic cackle. That _dammed _echoic cackle.  
I turned around to see if it was the woman...it wasn't.  
This new creature sent more shock waves over me, gluing me where I stood, as it was far more petrifying than any of the other beings I saw while with Morgan.  
Human, like the woman. But only barely. He was bald and paper white, like he was dead. His fingertips bore nails...or claws, I couldn't really be sure, that appeared at least twelve, maybe fourteen inches in length. He wasn't muscular by any means; in fact, he was almost rail thin. _Literally_. And naked. He was...naked. Except, it seemed more like seeing Spongebob naked, since there really wasn't anything to cover up. Then I saw the teeth. Small and piranha like, but also molded together and...brown.  
And, finally, what got me the most, were the eyes. Bright red, unlike anything I'd ever seen.  
Better judgement would've told me to run right then, not look back, and keep my dirty little fop ass where it was supposed to be: near Morgan.  
But I didn't have that. So I didn't do anything it would have told me.  
_Don't judge so quickly_, I thought, stupidly moving forward. _It could be completely retar-_  
And then it shrieked.  
And guess what? I completely ignored it. Was I tired? I had to have been tired.  
But I knew there were boundaries. I knew I would be safe as long as I stayed past that invisible line.  
_Invisible_. That's the part that didn't register.  
I walked a full 30 yards, at least, before I stopped and waited for it to respond. When it didn't, I walked past the lone tree. That's when it snapped.  
I didn't even have time to blink before I felt the bark of the tree rub abrasively against my neck, and the wind abandon my lungs. The creature's wrist held me in place, while it glared down at me with it's neon red eyes and its teeth bared.  
I gasped against the pressure on my neck, while it simply stared at me. Like it was deciding.

* * *

**M POV**  
Wishing the telepathic connection Frank and I shared was weaker was a bit of an understatement. I continually mentally slapped myself for ever even thinking of it. Which I guess could have made things more problematic, if I was slapping Frank, too.  
But, just this once, I was relieved that I'd made it.  
Sitting in the media room, while watching all the songs rearrange themselves and listening to Shinedown, I briefly, and involuntarily, snapped into Frank's mind.  
There were only two prominent things there, but that was enough. Enough to know he'd totally ignored me earlier...or he was just doing this to piss me off.  
I ran out of the room and down to the second floor, deciding it would be best to get someone else before I went to find Frank.  
Pounding on Mike's door, I called his name loudly.  
"What?" he yelled, opening the door in an irritated way.  
"I need your help," I said.  
"With what?"  
"Frank," I said, just as irritated as he had been.  
I led the way out of our building and toward where I calculated Frank would be.  
Shockingly, other than the fact that he was passed out, my guess being from shock, Frank seemed okay. The creature hovering above him still worried me, though. I knew whatever had stopped him from shredding Frank to pieces could disappear in seconds.  
"Do I have-"  
"Yes," I interrupted Mike.  
He flitted over and back with Frank in his arms in a fraction of a second.  
I grabbed Frank's jaw and turned his face toward me.  
"The creatures are deadly...and _I am their pissed off maker_...fucktard,"


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

"Morgan," the banging on my door continued.  
I threw it open.  
"What?" I asked, still slightly annoyed by Frank.  
Mike stood at my door, roughly gripping a terrified man by his neck.  
"This man wants to speak with you...about his maker," Mike said, anger becoming clearer in his eyes.  
"Where are you from?" I asked the man.  
"Lunadr," he said quietly.  
_Lunadr_.  
"I come in peace," he said.  
His _maker _had obviously put _no _thought into him. Asshole.  
"Sure you do. What does your _maker _want?" I spat.  
"Can I speak with you alone, ple-"  
"No," I interrupted. "What does your maker want?"  
"The master wants to speak with you," he said.  
He calls Conall his _master_? Well, that just pisses me off even more.  
"Then why did he send _you_?"  
"To arrange a meeting," he said. "He wishes to bring a select few others and meet you outside. He wants to make a deal."  
"And what if I say 'piss off?'"  
"He'll come anyway," the man smirked.  
I hated to acknowledge the tiny bit of fear rising up. I knew it would piss Conall off, and possibly endanger the creatures outside, but I couldn't just _agree _to what he wanted. That would endanger them as well.  
"Are you hungry?" I asked Mike, finally stepping out of my room.  
Mike smirked. "Yes."  
I closed the door and pushed past them.  
"Bon Appetit," I said, making my way to the stairs.  
I'd made it up half a flight of stairs before the man let out a scream.

~~~~~~~~~~

**F POV**  
"Just going for a walk in the cemetery?" Gerard asked once I reluctantly woke.  
I moaned.  
"_You could have been fucking killed, Frankie!_"  
"I'm sorry, Gee-"  
"No! You're not! You saw what that place had! You _knew _not to go back there, but you did it anyway because _you can't fucking take being told 'no!'_ God! You're _such _an only child!"  
That, at least, woke me up a little more.  
"Hey! _That's_ not fucking true, and you know it! You _know _what went on when my parents divorced!"  
"You know- Okay, fine. That's not even the fucking point here. The point is that you _deliberately _did something fucking stupid and dangerous for no fucking reason!"  
"And I said I'm fucking sorry!"  
"And that just makes it _okay_? You think you can just say you're sorry-"  
God, this was _so bogus!_ What was his fucking problem? And I _had _a _reason_, thank you.  
"Ugh!" I finally exclaimed. "Whatever, Gee, we both know I wouldn't do something ridiculously stupid unless I had a reason. I'm gonna go find that studio until you fucking _get off your high horse_."  
"My high horse?" he scoffed.  
But I was already closing the door.  
_Thank you for reminding me of why I am sick inside,_  
I jumped a little from the sudden screaming of Shinedown in my mind.  
Morgan.  
Even to just hear music, having my own mind interrupted by hers was never a pleasant thing to deal with, especially after a fight with Gee when I really needed my own angry mind time.  
Why was she listening to _Sin With A Grin_ so..._passionately_, anyway? Had something happened?  
_Oh God_, I thought. _Something _did _happen_...  
Heart pounding furiously, I flew down the stairs, trying to call out to Morgan through our telepathic bond to ask if anything was wrong. I was still getting used to it, and she hadn't taught me _anything_, but I figured it couldn't hurt.  
_Go back to bed_, she replied, a hint of anger in her thoughts. _You collapsed doing shit to piss me off, I really don't want to talk to you right now._  
_No_, I pressed. _You interrupted my angry-at-boyfriend time with your music. Something's wrong, so tell me what it is_.  
_It's nothing you need to worry about_, she insisted, anger turning into annoyance. _Now go back to bed._  
_Fine_, I said. _I'll come find you._  
_Dammit, Frank, it's not your business!_  
I tuned her out from that point, irritated that she'd play music that loud and not give me any hints as to why. I checked the media level first, just in case she was still there, however unlikely that was. I went downstairs next, but a tall, dorky man blocked the stairs.  
"What are you doing up?" he asked immediately, having a defensive edge to his voice and posture.  
"Uh...wondering who the fuck you are,"  
"Sorry- Daniel," he held his hand out, and I shook it. "Morgan...um...told me you'd be trying to come down here."  
"Right..."  
"She taught you how to block yet?"  
"No," I said, trying to figure out how to get around him.  
"I could probably teach you, but not as effectively,"  
"You...and her...have-" I pointed at my head when I couldn't find the words.  
He nodded.  
Hee_ey_! Not exactly the answer I came down here for, but it was just as good.  
"Why? I mean...why can we..." I pointed at my head again.  
"Strategy," he said simply. "Like a chess game. And you're more analytical than Gerard, apparently, so..."  
"Wait, what?"  
"But, seriously, what are you doing up?"  
"Same thing as you are, I imagine," I said. "Trying not to break that Sound Of Madness CD."  
"My connection isn't nearly as strong as yours, though," he said. "Was that in her thoughts or in her head?"  
"Is there a difference?"  
"This hasn't been going on long for you, has it?"  
"No..."  
"I should probably let her explain it, then,"  
"Where _is _she?" I asked, ignoring this unusual conversation.  
"Can't tell you," he said stiffly.  
"Because...you don't know?"  
"Because she told me not to," he said. "You should go back to bed, it probably takes a while to recover from that little stunt you did."  
"So you can drug me and-"  
"You're very paranoid today," he stated, finally getting an amused look on his face.  
"At least I have a reason," I said, not bothering to correct his word choice. "You're just acting schizophrenic for the fun of it."  
He let out a chuckle, but didn't respond.  
I tried to tune into Morgan's mind to see if I could locate her, but she had an annoying ringing sound in her head.  
_What are you hiding_? I thought.  
She didn't answer, so I gave a loud groan, then turned around and stormed back up the stairs to go where I had first intended: the fourth floor.

**M POV**  
"Why should I?"  
"I don't know," I started slowly. "You tell me."  
He looked at me suspiciously. "Wait a minute. Are you gonna bribe me?"  
"Maybe," I replied.  
"Wouldn't be much good to me anyway," he smirked, gently running one of his long nails against the side of the table. "If I died."  
"Which you have a greater chance of doing if you refuse," I stated.  
He froze, a worried look starting to grow on his face. "And now you're...threatening?"  
"No," I assured him. "I'm pointing out the obvious. They're not just here for _one little thing_. Once they have that, they're gonna go for it all. Including your side of the world."  
"You're lying," he hissed.  
"You don't think they'd see your side of the world as a threat?" I asked, irritated.  
"And you're saying we'd all be safer if we left our place and became buddy-buddy with all of your little fuckers?" he spat.  
I felt a gentle tug in my mind, suggesting that one of my said little fuckers had ignored my orders about going back to bed and was now trying to find me through our bond.  
I quickly put up a mental wall and returned to the situation at hand.  
"Temporarily," I confirmed, ignoring his cursing and sarcastic attitude.  
He gave a deep sigh and examined his nail, apparently considering his options.  
Even though he really had none.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

**F POV**  
Waking up the second time wasn't nearly as irritating as the first, now that Gerard and I had made up. It was more along the lines of shocking.  
"Jeez!" I yelled as soon as I opened my eyes.  
"Hiay, Frankie!" Gee chirped, unfazed by my shriek.  
"Gee," I groaned, sitting up. "Don't. Do that!"  
"Sorry," he laughed, climbing into bed with me. "You're just so funny."  
He leaned in to kiss me, and I kissed back instinctively, despite my earlier annoyance with him.  
"Morning," he whispered, giving me his cliché half-grin.  
"Morning," I replied, letting him kiss my neck.  
He pulled back and a full grin came across his face.  
"What?" I asked suspiciously.  
"I have an idea," he said.  
"_Uh_-oh,"  
"Come on, get dressed," he giggled, leaping off the bed.  
"Oh...it requires clothes," I muttered, almost disappointed.  
"Yes, Frankie," he chided, rummaging through my dresser.  
"Is it gonna be fun anyway?"  
He tossed me a pair of skinny jeans and a t-shirt. "You'll see."  
I got dressed as quickly as I could then followed Gee downstairs in hopes of coffee before he put this exciting idea into motion. Just as hit second to last step, though, he stopped and put his hands against the walls on either side of him, as if to steady himself.  
"Gee-"  
"Go back," he interrupted.  
"What?"  
"Get back to your room," he snapped.  
I ignored him and, determined to see what had him so worried, I ducked underneath his arms and ran past him.  
"Frank," Gerard growled, running after me.  
He grabbed me by the waist, just as I froze.  
The creature- _thing _I'd...met...outside.  
"Why is he here?" I whispered, more to myself than Gerard.  
It must have heard us, because it turned...and it's bright red eyes zoomed in on me.  
I stared at him...and he just stared back, a smirk forming on his deathly pale face.  
"He won't hurt you," an irritatingly familiar voice assured me from behind.  
Morgan. _That's_ what she was doing last night.  
"Not while he's _here_,"  
Gerard's arms wrapped fully around my waist in what felt like a protective stance, and he gently turned me around to face the stairway.  
And Morgan.  
"Just ignore-" he started to say.  
"Bitch!"  
She winced and started messing with her hair, like she was more afraid of me causing a scene than attacking her.  
"_What the hell is wrong with you_?" I exploded, breaking away from Gee's grip. "As if bringing him here in the middle of the night wasn't enough, you decide it would be a good idea to let him _stay_?"  
"'Let' isn't-"  
"You blame me for going out there and getting near him and then _you _decide to _bring him here_, like it's any better-"  
"You could've made that a _lot _shorter and just called me hypocrite-"  
"_Bitch_!"  
"You know I wouldn't do this without a reason-"  
"Oh do I?" I laughed. "Well thanks for telling me what I know, because-"  
_Let me explain_, she broke into my thoughts.  
"Get out of my head!" I growled, _so _close to physically attacking her.  
"Frankie," Gee whispered in my ear. "Just let her explain. There's more here than it appears."  
"Fine," I gritted out after a while.  
Gee took my hand and led me up the stairs with Morgan. After sneaking one more quick look back at the monster, I followed without hesitation.

~~~~~~~~~~

**P POV**  
Just standing around on the main level felt strange, like I should start making small talk with some of the people there, act like this was mundane and that I wasn't as widely hated as I was.  
Especially by the one standing across from me, staring at me with huge eyes filled with fear.  
Daniel, Morgan called him. Don't know what I did to him. Other than...ha, maybe that was it.  
Everything from my skin and eyes to my laugh terrified people. And damn, did I scare the shit out of _him_.  
"Frank!" an unfamiliar voice rose from behind me, jolting me from my thoughts.  
I paused, wondering if I should bother looking. Curiosity got the better of me, and I turned around to find the obnoxious source.  
Ah...so the stupid little boy was still alive. And he had a...boyfriend? From the looks of it -the way the guy was touching him and the way he glared at me- I guessed that was exactly what he was. Interesting.  
The one I'd attacked yesterday stared at me, petrified. He stayed like that for a moment before his boyfriend turned him around to go back the way they came from.  
But they stopped.  
"Bitch!" my victim exploded.  
So he was smarter than he had appeared in the field. At least, smart enough to figure out what she'd done. I'd have to wait and see how smart he really was.

~~~~~~~~~~

**F POV**  
"Okay," I said. "Explain."  
Of all the places she could've picked to fill us in, she picked the damned forest. With the tigers and giant man-eating snakes. Okay, granted, she could control them all, but still...  
"Last night," she started, plucking at the grass. "A stranger came here. He was from Lunadr."  
"I'm gonna assume that's bad?"  
"Yes," she snapped, irritated at my interruption. "Lunadr...is a bad place. The Illusionist there puts no thought into anything except his power and gain. The creatures there aren't made naturally...they're forced, for his own gain. They give no compassion, and they get even less. It's like an internment camp without half the mercy."  
"So what was the stranger doing here?" I asked.  
"He wanted to arrange a meeting," she said. "I said no. They're coming anyway."  
"Come," I choked out. "Come here? Come now?"  
"No," she whispered. "Not now."  
"You mean _they_, like...not just the Illusionist?" Gerard asked.  
She nodded.  
"But," Gerard said. "What does that have to do with...that thing being here."  
"Strategy," I said, remembering what Daniel had said.  
She looked at me, confused.  
"I don't want this place split up right now," she said. "Yes, I said these creatures are dangerous, and you should never be around them. But they're dangerous...because they're territorial. When they sense their homeland is in trouble, they get angry. They'll do anything to protect their home, and if that means staying here for a while and _not _tearing you to shreds, they'll do it."


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

A banging on our door interrupted my little make-out session with Gerard. I groaned as he pulled away and gave me a look. I glared at him, but went to answer the door anyway.  
Morgan. Great.  
_You wanna learn to block me or not?_  
"_Now_?" I asked out loud.  
"Yeah, now,"  
"But I'm in my pa-jam-jams," I pouted.  
My pouting skills apparently don't work on her, though.  
"I don't care,"  
"Meanie," I said, but went to change out of my pink and black Hello Kitty pajamas anyway.  
I also have Tinkerbell and Pooh.  
_I don't care what KINDS you have, either,_  
"Come on, Gee," I said, skipping out the door.  
He gave a heavy sigh, but followed anyway.  
"Where we going?" I asked.  
"Main floor,"  
"Why?"  
"More room,"  
"Why do we need more room? Everything we're doing is in our heads,"  
"You'll see,"  
We reached the main floor, which was abandoned again. I made my way to the center of the dance floor and waited for Morgan, who was messing with _flower vases_ for some reason. Gerard sat in the corner, eying Morgan with confusion.  
"What noise can you absolutely _not _stand?" she asked, moving to another vase.  
"The sound of Justin Bieber's dick shrinking every time he sings,"  
"Oh, _that _was creative," I could practically hear the eye-rolling.  
"Okay...um...crickets," I said seriously.  
"Crickets?" she repeated incredulously.  
"Yeah, I hate their chirping,"  
"Okay, imagine that noise,"  
"Ugh!"  
I imagined little crickets singing to their mates anyway.  
_Are you still thinking?_  
"Seriously?" I exclaimed. "I don't get it, what do crickets have to do with blocking you out of my head?"  
"You have to create a wall," she told me. "If you block out all thoughts and concentrate on that noise, that's all I'll get."  
"I can't even think?"  
I thought the point of this was so I could have private thoughts, not just a rest from her getting in my head all the time.  
"Right now, no. It's hard to think and concentrate on that noise at the same time, but after you get the hang of simply putting up a wall, it shouldn't be a problem. Now...concentrate,"  
I sighed and concentrated on the obnoxious sound of crickets.  
_Weep weep weep weep weep weep weep weep weep weep weep weep weep  
weep weep weep weep weep weep weep weep weep weep weep-  
Not loud enough,  
Fuck you,  
WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP  
WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP-  
Now...ee...er-  
WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP  
WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP  
WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP  
WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP  
WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP-_  
"Okay," Morgan said out loud. "Now put the wall down for a minute."  
We waited a moment in silence, then she told me to put it back up.  
_WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP  
WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP  
WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP  
WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP  
WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP WEEP-_  
"Okay, enough weeping...I think you got it,"  
"Seriously...that's it? What the fuck did we need a giant room for, then?"  
"Later," she said. "Try thinking behind the wall."  
_WEEP WEEPFUWEEP WEEPWEEPANWEEP WEEPWEEPOSEWEEP_  
I didn't expect it to feel so easy so quickly. After only a minute I could hear the chirping, but it was like background _noise_...not the forced burden it was to start with. Then I could think relatively freely.  
I put down the "_wall_," and sighed.  
"Okay," Morgan gave me a half-smile, which almost reminded me of Gerard's. "Moving on. How about...doing it backwards?"  
"Listen to you?"  
She nodded.  
"Concentrate and listen carefully...in a separate part of your mind," she said, pointing to her head. "But try to push that part of your mind away."  
"Like...where in my mind?"  
"Where do you hear _me_?"  
Suddenly I thought of a time when I was around seven, when I tried to use my mind to turn on a light bulb. I understood what she meant.  
_Can you hear me?_ she asked once I made my way.  
_This is still fucking weird,_ I replied.  
She smirked. _Of course it is. Now you wanna take it a step even further?  
And do what?  
Deflect me.  
What do you mean?  
Put up your wall and hold it no matter what you feel._  
I withdrew from her mind and took a moment to recuperate. Then the crickets started chirping.  
"You ready?"  
I looked over at Gerard, who hadn't said a word the entire time. His eyes were wide as he watched us. I had a feeling he hadn't understood half of what just happened.  
"Yeah,"  
At first I felt nothing, then my mind...tickled. Whatever she was doing could physically _tickle _my mind. That forced me to let my wall down. Even though I only willingly left it down for a second, that was enough to keep me from being able to put it back up. The feeling went from a tickle in my mind, to an excruciating pain in my gut. It was like someone took a flaming steel brush and stabbed me with it. I screamed, letting my knees give way underneath me.  
"Frankie!" Gee exclaimed, immediately running to my side.  
But by that time I had recovered, except for a few tears left on my cheek.  
"Babe..." he wiped away the tears.  
"I'm fine," I assured him.  
He glared at Morgan, and didn't leave my side.  
"I'm okay...I wanna learn how to deflect that,"  
"Why the fuck would he _need _to deflect that? Why would you do something like that to him?"  
"Not me," she said.  
"Other Illusionists," I said.  
"Oh," Gee whispered.  
"See...he has an advantage in that area," Morgan explained. "Illusionists can't touch any of the Connected, since they're...well...connected...to other Illusionists. If the connection is active, and he can keep his wall up, he can keep anyone from doing that to him. And to some extension, keep it from happening to those who aren't connected."  
"How would I do that?"  
"Any offense toward Miracea is either a direct assault, or a kidnapping. Anyone kidnapped is most likely one of the Connected, since they're apart of my mind - the maker of the world - and they're apart of the rest of the world - the delicate part of the world,"  
"So I'm a distraction from people like Gerard, as well as a defense for myself?"  
"Yeah, basically,"  
Strategy.  
"All right...let's do this shit, then,"


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: Gah...Fan Fiction's being a dick and it won't let me put really big words up. I had to take down the last chapter and edit it.**

Chapter 18

I exhaled sharply once the tickling finally stopped. Morgan had thought of nearly every possible scenario where I might drop my guard. From simple noise in the background, to Gerard being put in danger. We'd been going for at least two hours until Morgan said we only had one more thing to do.  
"Let's see how you do...with this little guy nearby,"  
"What little guy?"  
She tossed something black toward me.  
I froze. A tarantula.  
"Can I...like..."  
Pain. A fuckload of pain. In my wrist this time, like someone was eating it from the inside. I screamed, trying to wriggle my mind free of her grip, even though we both knew it was no use. Then it eased up.  
"Not all Illusionists will show you mercy," she said.  
"You know...I didn't ask for this," I said, growing beyond angry at her.  
Actually, at all Illusionists. At the moment I hated them. Every fucking one of them.  
"Neither did I," she snapped. "But we have to deal with it. Put your wall up."  
I did so, trying to ignore the spider that was now scurrying around in an eight motion.  
_Eight...for how many superfluous legs you have-_  
"FUCKER!" I screamed as another wave of pain hit my wrist.  
"You put your wall down!"  
"You try keeping your wall down when you're arachnophobic and a giant spider's running around near you!"  
"Put it back up," she said.  
_No _mercy.  
The crickets started again, as did the tickling. The spider reared up and bared its fangs, apparently sensing something wrong with me. I managed to keep the wall up, though. Another flower vase broke. Something about my deflecting her bounced the magic back to the flower vases, and since they have no mind to receive pain, the impact breaks them. Which was why we needed a lot of empty space.  
Gerard still sat in a corner, tensed up and ready to spring to my side if the need arose. Behind Gerard, I saw the spiral stairs...and a pale figure standing where I could just barely see it. I nearly freaked out and dropped my wall, but then, just like that, Morgan stopped.  
"Okay...we're done,"  
"Really? Just like that?"  
She nodded, looking a little tired.  
I glanced back at the stairs, but the figure was gone. I looked back at Morgan, who just shook her head at me.  
"Whatever you saw, it won't hurt you,"  
"What made that pale creature not attack me yesterday?" I blurted out.  
She sighed and pulled up a chair next to Gerard, then rested her head on her arms. I sat next to Gerard, and took his hand in mine.  
"I dunno...maybe you're so small you don't look like a threat,"  
"Hey!"  
"I'm serious," she said. "Think about it, if someone burst into your home that was six feet tall and looked like half his weight was in muscle, you'd feel a little more threatened than if that person was a skinny little dude."  
"Well," I smirked. "I dunno if _threatened _is what I'd feel."  
Gerard cleared his throat loudly. "I _am _sitting right next to you, you know."  
"Yeah, well, I don't think many of the people outside are nearly as horny as you, Frank," Morgan said.  
"Hey!"  
"You _are _kinda horny, Frank," Gerard agreed.  
"I'll show you a horn," I muttered.  
"Wait...do the things outside have _species_?" Gerard asked.  
"They're not _things_, Gerard," Morgan said. "And some of them do have species. Some of them don't."  
"What about...the pale creature?" I asked.  
"He's human,"  
_He_.  
"No...humans don't...look like that," I said. "They don't...look like that."  
"Nevertheless, he's human," she said.  
"Then...how...uh..."  
"It's not really something I can explain," she said. "It's just...something that has to be understood."  
But how do you _get _that kind of understanding, hm?


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

**_ POV**  
Again, with the awkward social situations. At least this time the cluster of people seemed so enormous I couldn't possibly be noticed...or at least it should have felt that way, seeing as the conversation filled the room with a deafening affect.  
But then I saw the dude...the little dude. The skinny one. With many tattoos. And unnatural looking face piercings. Who obviously _loathed _me.  
He glared at me from across the room, as if he thought I might...I dunno, react? I thought he'd just glare at me until his boyfriend or whatever got him, but he started toward me, with an unfortunate look of purpose. For some reason it slightly amused me. Maybe more than slightly, since I burst out laughing, only to receive many frightened looks from passersby.  
He froze once he'd reached within a yard of me, which was probably the closest anyone's ever intentionally come to me. The expression he bore changed slightly from anger to annoyance; another first.  
"What?" he snapped.  
I tried to escape with the monster complex again and hissed at him.  
"You know that face of stupidity doesn't fool me into thinking you're not able to speak,"  
I paused for a moment and thought of a comeback that amused me. "Well your tattoos don't fool me into thinking you're not gay."  
He blinked in surprise and frowned. "You still didn't answer my question."  
I gave him my attempt at a perplexed look, which I found hard since this form didn't have any eyebrows.  
"I didn't know 'what' in that context was supposed to be answered," I said, standing up.  
"Not that one," he said, seeming a little more scared now that I stood up. "The one-"  
"Little dude," I interrupted, beginning to resent Morgan's half-threat against harming people. "I don't know what you're talking about."  
"Oh, yeah," he said. "That's right. You nearly pulled my guts out before I could say anything."  
I choked back a laugh at his attitude about the event.  
"You were a lonely child, weren't you?" I asked, highly amused.  
"Fucker," he spat.  
"Such hatred!" I said sarcastically.  
"No shit, bitch," he shot, attempting a menacing glare.  
It may have scared me if I weren't taller than him while I remained sitting.  
"Are we done here?" I asked.  
"Yeah, we're done," he said angrily.  
Then his boyfriend came up behind him, saw me, and immediately assumed a protective position around him. Compared to the angry one, who was about half a foot shorter, he _looked _like he could defend himself pretty well. _Looked _like he could.  
"Babe," Boyfriend said to the littler one. "What are you doing?"  
"I...you know," he muttered.  
"Come on...you're probably tired," Boyfriend said, trying to pull Little One away.  
"Being an angry little queer does tend to take a lot of energy out of you," I said.  
I was expecting Little One to react, but I got more response out of Boyfriend.  
"Fuck you," he snapped.  
"Well, why don't you fuck him?" I asked, pointing at Little One. "Or is he too willing for you?"  
Before I'd thought _Little One_ had hated me...but the look on Boyfriend's face _completely _surpassed Little One's apparent hatred.  
"Just stay the fuck away from him," Boyfriend told me, shielding him from me.  
I saw Little One slip his hand around to hold Boyfriend's hand, then poke his head to the side to look at me. It almost looked cute. But he annoyed me too much for it to really look cute.  
"Glad to," I said.

* * *

**F POV**  
For the next few days - I could only tell days were passing anymore because we still had clocks - everything remained relatively uneventful. Nearly everyday I went to the fourth floor, by far my favorite floor, and played guitar behind the lone wooden door. That room seemed kinda small - so small it almost made me feel claustrophobic. But it also somehow had room for a dozen guitars, a drum set, and a number of other random instruments.  
Somehow things weren't that...stressful here. I had no idea what to think about...Miracea...anymore...but I wasn't stressed. It almost felt comfortable there, but that bothered me, because I hated the fact that I had no choice in being there. Morgan had just dragged us there.  
But at least I had managed to stay away from the creatures of outside for a while. And I finally figured out at least one partial routine that happened almost every night. Nearly every night the main level put its club-like appearance into use, and put up a band to play for everyone to dance or mosh-pit-flail to.  
After a while I found out that most of the bands were _holograms_. And not only that, any band could get up and play. Or, half a band could get up and play, and holograms could fill in the rest. The latter was what really struck me. After hearing it I couldn't help but turn to Gee and smile.  
"Whaaat?" he asked suspiciously.  
"You think maybe you could get your pink boa?" I asked.

* * *

I knew I'd played for an audience before; I recognized the feeling right when I walked on stage. I just didn't remember anything specific about the stages, or the rest of the band. I just remember the playing - the euphoria of the "do or die" moment, with the occasional interruption of Gerard's lips against mine and the screaming crowd's response. We hadn't just _done this_before...we _lived _to do this.  
This time, when the light hit us, and the crowd murmured in confusion, a whole new kind of excitement hit me. These people didn't know what the fuck to expect. Especially since I had changed into my lightest pink tutu and put on white pantyhose. They didn't technically _want _to hear us play. We had to _make _them want to hear us play.  
"Now I know...you guys are wondering...who are those crazy ass motherfuckers up there?" Gerard greeted the crowd. "Well...let me introduce us. We are _My. Chemical. Romance_!"  
The other guitarist and I immediately started playing a little background music, and few members of the audience started cheering.  
"I think that's Bob back there...on the drums...at least that's what I've been told. Apparently that's Ray over there on the lead guitar. I'm assuming that's my little brother Mikey over there on the bass. Hmm...over here...in the lovely pink tutu...is the most fucking amazing rhythm guitarist in the world...Frank Iero."  
I grinned for him, the pointed to my eye, my ear, and then made an _oh _with my thumb and index finger to make sure they knew how to say it.  
"And I...am your fucking master tonight...and my name...is Gerard Way,"  
Then the holograms and I went into action, playing You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison. Pretty much half-way through the first chorus the crowd got wilder, and half of them started mosh-pit-flailing to us.  
I hadn't felt this amazing in a long time. And judging by the way Gerard was jumping around, I guessed he felt the same.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

**F POV**  
After a week of complacency, I saw freaky-dangerous-supposed-human again on the second floor. Gerard had gone to the painting rooms, and I felt the need to get out of our room. So I simply walked down the hall, sat down, and started to read Harry Potter. A few pages in, I heard quiet footsteps, so I looked up, and there he was. He smirked and stood still.  
"Can you..._not_...look at me...like you're gonna eat me?" I asked.  
He let loose his echoic laugh.  
"Can you _not_ talk to me like you think about anything other than red carpet fashion statements?"  
"Okay, what the fuck did I ever do to you?" I snapped. "You keep bashing my sexuality because...what, you're _homesick_?"  
For the first time he looked like I _actually _got to him. For a moment he looked completely shocked, then that faded into a little bit of hurt.  
"Fine...I'll leave the gay bashing to the people who watched you dry hump your boyfriend on stage the other night,"  
Damn, I didn't know he was watching.  
"Is it _that _hard for you to just coexist with people? Is it the fact you're the _only_ human here that's a bigger _freak _than a gay man?"  
I didn't actually think that would come out of my mouth, but it did. I expected him to completely forget his promise to Morgan not to rip me to shreds...but he smirked. He didn't look hurt or angry...in fact, he looked like he was enjoying this.  
"Morgan didn't _really _explain me well to you, did she?" he asked.  
I didn't think it was a serious question, so I folded my arms and raised an eyebrow.  
"I'm serious, you're just repeating what you assume she implied, aren't you?"  
"She said...it wasn't something that can be explained." I said, wondering how I ended up having a serious conversation with him. "Only understood."  
"Well...she's only about half right on that. It _can _be explained. But that doesn't mean it will be understood."  
"So..." I hesitated.  
"You want to know what I am," he stated. "You don't _really _believe I'm human."  
I felt my heart race, detecting the sarcastic note in his voice and wondering if he would pounce.  
_He won't hurt you,_ Morgan's words echoed in my mind.  
"But...you are," I said, hearing my own voice shake.  
"Yes," he whispered, creeping up a bit further. "Kind of."  
"What do you mean?" I asked, suppressing a groan.  
He finally decided that he didn't care if he scared me anymore, and sat next to me.  
"I'm the demon within," he said, then faster than I could follow, he switched to the other side of me. "And the best of you at the same time."  
I turned my head toward him slowly...and nearly had a heart attack.  
His features had changed...so much. Before, he'd fallen under the same category as Colossus, or the Hulk. A human element about him...but otherwise completely inhuman.  
But now...calling him gorgeous would be an understatement.  
He even had the cliché dirty-blond-hair-brown-eyes thing going on...with the funky hair cut, with the hair shorter in the back and gradually getting longer in the front.  
You can tell I'm amazing with descriptions.  
Dare I say, he was even hotter than Brad Pitt. Granted, Brad Pitt's not really that hot- okay, he was hotter than Jim Sturgess. Anyway.  
Just as the shock started to sink in, he switched back to my right again and, to my disappointment, he was back to his original figure.  
"Shocking, isn't it?"  
I nodded, unable to speak.  
"Who knew the potential humans held," he mused. "The hideousness..."  
He switched again.  
"...or the beauty. If only they knew which was which."  
And back to my right, again, changing to the monster.  
"Depends on the human, I guess," he continued, as if predicting my request for elaboration. "Like you, for instance. You have your own views on right and wrong. In your perfect world, man's demon would claw me for what I'm about to do."  
Switch.  
"But your enemy's monster would claw me for not doing it sooner."  
"And what's that?" I asked, enjoying his beauty while it lasted.  
"This,"  
And then, without using super speed...yet still catching me off guard, he leaned in even closer than before...and kissed me.  
Shock overwhelmed my mind like a wave, making me unable to respond. Confusion followed, and questions invaded my mind, though not all about this. I made notes about the little things...like how soft his hands felt on my face...and how gentle this encounter was compared to our first...and how I couldn't kiss back, even if I wanted to...and if the form was perfect_everywhere _- but that was just fucking uncalled for.  
Finally, after an unknown length of time, he pulled away. Only then, as disappointment took place of the other emotions, did I realize just how much I'd enjoyed it. And, from the look on his temporarily perfect face, I guessed he did, too.  
"Don't get cocky...I was only proving a point," he said, then disappeared from sight.  
I stayed there for a while, frozen, giving myself time to recover.  
Looking up, I got my third heart attack in about a five minute period.  
Gee. How predictable.  
He looked about as shocked as I felt. And also hurt.  
"Gee," I gasped, getting up.  
He shook his head slowly and walked away.  
I ran after him, hoping I could convince him that I hadn't meant for that to happen.  
"Gee," I cried, grabbing his arm.  
He stopped and examined me, worry in his eyes.  
"He didn't hurt you, did he?" he asked.  
I was surprised that he asked that first, instead of something more cliché, but ultimately, I was glad it didn't seem to be going that badly.  
"No," I said.  
"Then I don't have quite such a good excuse to kill him, now do I?" he grumbled.  
"Wait...what- you're not..." I stumbled on my own words in confusion.  
Surely he was so unbelievably pissed and would lose his head so that I couldn't talk reason into him and be capable of preventing a nasty break-up...  
"Did you want it?" he asked simply.  
I recalled the disappointment I'd felt when we'd broken apart, but no...I didn't _want _him to do it.  
"No,"  
"Then no," Gee whispered, wrapping his arms around me. "I'm not mad at you."  
He led me back to our room with his arms still around me.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Being a naughty little boy, I couldn't resist creeping up the stairs to the stage to look for some flaw in the hologram programing thingy. I knew better than to touch anything while the band was playing, but I did want to look at it.  
"What are you doing?"  
"_Are you fucking stalking me?_" I snapped.  
"_Hah!_ You're funny. But you know, boys don't like girls who curse,"  
"And girls don't like eunuchs who claim they're boys," I shot back.  
"You still have a question for me, kid?" he asked, again giving me a fake...yet somehow sincere...complex of tenacity.  
"Don't call me kid," I snapped, waiting for him to walk off.  
"Whatever," he shrugged, turning around.  
I watched as he walked away, feeling a little disappointed I had chosen my pride over the opportunity to...figure out what the hell was going on.  
Though I knew I'd be risking a lot in doing so, I ran after him. He slowed as he heard me, then stopped and smirked. His smirk was starting to irritate me.  
"What does being a eunuch have to do with the darker side of humanity?"  
He burst into laughter. "I don't know, ask a Catholic."  
"I would, but my mother's insane,"  
He ran up the stairs and I followed him.  
"Why did she put up boundaries?"  
He turned to me and his expression was blank. At least...as far as I could tell. And, even though I knew I could only be digging a deeper grave, I elaborated.  
"I mean, not letting you come inside is one thing, but why create you just to put you in a cage?"  
"We're apparently dangerous to each other too," he said, obviously angry about the question.  
Despite his attitude, and the fact that Morgan would call this provoking and therefore a logical reason for him to attack me and get away with it, I asked him another one.  
"Why?"  
"I don't know, maybe we just don't have a fucking _brain _like you hermits do," he snapped. "Maybe the only thing that goes on in our minds is 'kill, kill, kill.' Why the fuck do you care?"  
"Why the fuck do you answer?"  
He continued up the stairs.  
"Better yet," I said, following him. "Why do you waste your time bashing my very _open _sexuality, only to turn around and try to make out with me?"  
"That was _not _making out, I already told you what that was," he said. "And trust me, I'd bash you if you were straight, too. You know, for someone who wants everyone to be so open-minded, you're a little closed-minded yourself."  
"How so?"  
"You only see equality as everyone being lovey-dovey to each other. Anyone who treats the world like shit is just an asshole, when in fact they're more about equality than you are."  
"Do you have any idea what you just said? That's bullshit."  
"You just told me you're mother's insane- that's obviously not the attitude you have about your boyfriend. Everyone has that one person they can't help but be a bitch to...treating anyone else differently-"  
"That wasn't my point,"  
"But it's on the same grounds as your point,"  
"Yeah, well, you're the one who changed the subject,"  
"You're the one who's nagging the shit out of me to talk, when you should hate me with every fiber of your being,"  
"I do hate you with every fiber of my being," I assured him.  
"Then why are you asking me questions you could easily ask Morgan,"  
"Morgan mentally assaulted me the other day to train me for some shit I didn't want...I'm not talking to her,"  
That made him quiet for a while, and he simply smirked at me.  
"You're Connected," he finally said. "You're in for a hell of a ride, then. Those people from Lunadr...they are gonna fuck. You. Up."  
"Yeah, I know," I said, hoping he didn't think he was scaring me more than Morgan had. "She said they were merciless."  
"Well, not to you...to Morgan," he said.  
"What...what do they want, exactly?"  
"They want her power...her mind,"  
Holy fuck.  
"If they manage to get what they want...God only knows what's gonna happen to your mind," he said.  
Great.

~~~~~~~~~~

"Frankie, babe, where ya been?" Gee asked, looking up from his art for only a second.  
"Everywhere and I want a hug," I pouted.  
"Aw...sweetheart, what's the problem?"  
I wrapped my arms around his neck. "I love you."  
"I didn't know that was a problem," he returned the embrace.  
"It's not...I just love you,"  
He chuckled and kissed my forehead.  
"I love you, too,"  
I pecked his lips and took his hand and started leading him into the bedroom.  
"Let's make more, then,"


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

I might not have liked Lady Gaga's music on a regular basis, but it was amazing to dance to. Plus, her fashion sense was_fabulous_. It almost makes me want to wear a dress _more _than occasionally.  
But anywho, after I discovered that little tidbit about Lunadr, I figured a little dance party on the main floor wouldn't be such a bad idea. No one was down there yet, except Gerard and me, so I went ahead and fixed the hologram-thing.  
_Let's have some fun, this beat it sick, I wanna take a ride on your disco stick. Let's have some fun this beat is sick, I wanna take a ride on your disco stick - HEY!_  
I skipped back to Gee and spun around him, dancing a little. He smirked as I pushed him down on a chair and sat on him with both legs on either side. I bit his ear and heard a giggle escape him, and then I flipped around to face away from him while still on his lap. Leaning on his shoulder and gently touching his face, I moved my hips to the beat. Just as I felt something else press against me, a few people came down to join us.  
"Frankie..." Gee muttered, looking slightly embarrassed by his new problem.  
"Yes, love?" I said, standing up and dancing around his chair. "Oh, don't _worry _about it. No one here cares."  
We danced until the song ended, by which time there was a surprising amount of people watching us. And an even _more_surprising amount of people cheered once we were done and sat back down.  
_I know that we are young, and I know that you may love me...but I just can't be with you like this anymore..._  
And suddenly the scene changed. It was literally like I blinked and Gerard was gone. I went from a sitting position to a standing position, from the main level to the fifth floor, from amused to unbelievably annoyed, and from focusing on Gee to focusing on not ripping someone's brains out, all in about one millisecond.  
I tried to jerk my head, but it didn't seem to obey, as if I couldn't control it. Panic invaded my mind, along with confusion.  
Images that were definitely not mine flooded my vision, real only in the aesthetic sense.  
The thoughts weren't my own, the scene wasn't my own, the emotions weren't my own, and even the body didn't seem like my own.  
Then, just as suddenly as it had happened, it went away...and everything went black.

* * *

"Sorry," Morgan giggled once she'd brought me back to consciousness. "I didn't think about your first time."  
"Hopefully you didn't think about any of my times," I grumbled, noticing my head felt like hell.  
"Ew," she groaned, handing me an ice bag. "I didn't mean that."  
How did she know to do that?  
"What are you talking about?" I asked, in way too much pain to argue or try to hurt her.  
"Babe, what happened?" Gerard demanded, handing me a Tylenol and glass of water.  
"You tell me," I said, wondering if I loved him or the Tylenol more.  
"You kinda just...blanked out," he explained, just as confused as me. "You wouldn't respond. Like you were in your own world or something. No pun intended."  
I chuckled, though kind of worried about it. "I kind of was. Sept it wasn't of my own will. Didn't mean to faint on you."  
Gerard scrunched up his face like he was confused. "You didn't faint."  
Almost simultaneously, we looked at Morgan.  
"Sorry," she whispered, wincing. "I got...too angry. Didn't put up a wall. You were...me...for a minute, and you must have fought too hard."  
"Like...I wasn't just sharing _parts _of your head...I was _in _your head?"  
She nodded.  
"Lovely. Anything else you'd like to tell me?"  
"It's worse during sleep,"  
I sighed. "Whatever...time to dance."  
Everyone was still carrying on like they had before to the same song, so I must not have lost too much time. Morgan sped back up the stairs, hopefully with a wall up now. I looked around and saw the lady in white over in the corner, looking very peaceful. Then there were other strange creatures that obviously came from outside.  
An acoustic version of Paparazzi started playing, and Gerard danced slowly with me. It was nice, but halfway through the dance my musical A.D.D. hit. I wanted Brittany Spears.  
"Hit Me Baby?" I asked Gee.  
"But that would be domestic violence," he joked.  
I sent him one of my perfect little pouts. He rolled his eyes, but obeyed and went over to the dock. I edged away from the center of the dance floor, to the end of the railing near the stairs, in order to examine the layout once more.  
Right when I started to eye the stools at the bar, a hand clamped over my mouth. Before the terror could truly take over my mind, something hit me over the head...and everything was gone again.


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

_"And the dude was like...'braaawk'...and I was like...dude, you're not a chicken,"  
My sister laughed loudly, and mimicked him. Suddenly the Cheetah Girls became the background noise instead of the chicken man. We both mimicked him.  
"Could you quiet down?" Mom called.  
We started watching the Cheetah Girls more seriously, until the Chicken guy came back on.  
"Brawwk!" My sister mimicked.  
BAM! The door opened.  
"Didn't you hear your mother?"  
He looked mad.  
And then my sister was getting beaten. He grabbed my leg and dragged me to the foot of the bed, then beat me.  
"Don't look at me like that!"  
I could only glance at my sister before his hands wrapped around her neck, changing whatever expression she'd had before that pissed him off so badly.  
I was eight years old. I never watched Disney Channel after that._

I finally woke for good in a grassy area.  
_I don't have a sister,_ I thought. _I've never watched the Disney Channel...That never happened to me._  
A buzzing sound interrupted my exhausted thoughts, and a snap realization hit me. I was outside. Whoever the fuck attacked me took me outside. Which means they were probably - Oooohhhhhhh, Morgan was gonna be _piiissed_.  
But entering worry mode. Who, what, when, where, why? Minus the what, when, and where, because I clearly had _that_ figured out. Okay, seriously...who attacked me and took me outside? And to an area I hadn't been to before. And what was that buzzing sound?  
I looked around and saw...little...yellow things. Like jackhammers with brains and eyes. _That_ was fucked up.  
Then I felt a heavy weight fall on me, which sent me into a panic attack. I started flailing under the weight, like a worm since my wrists and ankles were bound. And I really don't like having to compare myself to a worm.  
"Stay fucking still, Duplicate!" the weight, which I now _assumed_ was a person, said.  
Of course, I could only _assume_ it here, because God only knows what else has verbal capabilities in this world. But, really, that wasn't that important, was it?  
He just called me a "duplicate," something only Emma had called me. And she's batshit insane. _He_ was probably batshit insane. And about to do..._what_?  
He answered my question, by slamming his elbow, which conveniently had something long and pointed on it, into my lower arm, causing it to snap. I shrieked in agony, while he hissed in my ear. Eventually I quieted down, but continued to sob. Apparently, though, he wanted to hear me scream, because then he kneed me below the waistline.  
"FUCK!" I cried.  
"You don't belong here, Faggot," he told me.  
Okay, _that_ word I recognized. Once the pain eased enough so that I could lift my head up, I managed to spit in his face.  
"You don't deserve this," he said, grabbing my manhood.  
He flicked open a pocket knife.  
"It needs to be...removed,"  
Oh, shit.

* * *

**M POV**  
"Morgan!" Gerard greeted me, back in my own head. "Where is he? Did you see him? Is he okay?"  
"_Oh, shit_" is all he has to think?  
"No," I replied absentmindedly.  
"No? No to which?"  
"No to the last two," I said. "Get Mike or Daniel."  
He ran off to find one of them, although at that moment I couldn't feel entirely sure he knew either of them. I tried to plot it out in my head, but it was harder since I didn't know Frank's attacker. It wasn't an Illusionist, it wasn't one of my creatures, and it didn't look like any of Conall's creatures...but it may have been one of my cottage dweller. I don't know all of them...although, I try to make sure hate crime punishments are enforced pretty harshly, and this definitely seems like a hate crime.  
"You know I'm not good with conscious ones," Mike said as he approached me.  
"I know," I said, already running toward the door that led outside. "He may _not_ be once we get to him, though."


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

**F POV**  
Normally I'd say a spider strikes the most fear in my heart. But at that moment, that knife seemed worse than ten-thousand tarantulas. I thought to Morgan for help, I prayed to God for help, and yet, the knife still shrieked at me. Glared at me. Mocked me. Blinded me. And I screamed - not like a girl, or a gay man, or any form of high pitched animal...I screamed like a man terrified for _more _than his life.  
Believe me; I tried to throw him off. It got no where with this bastard. I kicked, in vain, and squirmed, in vain, and tried to roll out from under him, in vain. He was too heavy, too controlled, and too..._dammed_ inconveniently placed. But of course that's just what I think when my dick's about to get Loretta Bobbetted. That something's _inconvenient_.

And then he screamed, and his hand contorted so that the knife fell. He'd lost enough control, I figured after a moment of surprise, that I could take the knife away. I snatched it off the ground and plunged it into the soft flesh of his shoulder. He screamed again and rolled off of me. I scrambled off the ground and looked around frantically for my savior.  
Morgan, specifically, but I couldn't find her. I couldn't find anyone, and my attacker was already recovering. I ran, obviously, as fast as my _apparently short_ legs could manage. Back to the cottage, and back to safety.  
Well, actually, I couldn't get _inside_ the cottage...not before I completely whacked myself into Gerard, and knocked both of us over. _Not_ our most romantic moment, by far, and it hurt my bad arm like _fuuuuck_, but I managed to wrap him in an absolutely suffocating one armed hug and sob on his shoulder.  
"Frankie!" he exclaimed, hugging me back. "What happened? Are you okay? Are you hurt?"  
I could only nod.  
"Where? How?"  
"Frank!" I heard Morgan and Mike say.  
"What happened?" Morgan asked me. "Where is he?"  
"Didn't you have to aim?" I choked out.  
"Aim what?" she asked.  
I calmed down enough to look at her. Her black hair looked wind-blown, and she had a sincere, concerned look on her face, like she thought I had gone completely crazy from the torment of the event. Her gaze flickered toward the direction where I had just come from, then back to me.  
"Mike," she said. "Do what you will."  
He flitted past me, somehow not even dazing me. I guess I'd seen enough shit, I needed something more than inhuman speed to surprise me now.  
"What happened?" she asked me.  
I explained to her how something, something other than mercy, forced him to drop the knife. The concern faded from her face, and was replaced with a soft expression I never thought I'd see on her.  
"That wasn't you?" Gee asked.  
"No," she murmured. "That wasn't me."  
"Who was it?" he asked.  
"Let's fix your arm," she ignored Gee. "Ah...Mike...that was quick."  
I'd expected to see blood stains on his hands or shirt from a kill, but he was completely clean. _That _creeped me out a little.  
Gee either didn't notice, or he ignored it. He simply kissed my forehead and helped me up, telling me I could tell him whatever necessary in the hospital. Like I was a rape victim or something.

* * *

As Dr. Vice wrapped my arm up, smirking while he did so, Gee stroked my back and waited for me to say something.  
"You're like a stubborn kitten," Dr. Vice said.  
"I didn't try to this time!" I said defensively. "Someone drug me out there! Kinda literally, I think."  
"That won't happen again," Gee said, a protective look in his eye. "I'll make sure of that."  
I looked at him, flattered but doubtful.  
"How?" I asked.  
"Er...I dunno," he admitted.  
"Baby, that's sweet, but impossible," I said, as Dr. Vince patted down the end of the roll.  
"Oh, come on, it's not that hard to outsmart homophobes," he argued.  
"But, see, I'm not sure he attacked me because I'm gay...he called me that same thing Emma called us...a Duplicate..."  
"That's not an insult," a raspy voice came, making Gerard sneer and Dr. Vice freeze in fear. "Not unless he was an Illusionist. Which apparently he wasn't."  
Dr. Vice just barely glanced toward the door where the pale figure stood. Gerard stood up with a menacing look on his face. I remained sitting, hoping he would walk back out in order to avoid a fight. But that seemed unlikely.  
"I told you to stay the fuck away," Gee said lowly.  
"No," I whispered, grabbing his arm with my good one. "Don't...start this."  
He looked at me for a moment, then turned back to the door. He jumped a little in surprise, which made me look back, too, to find no one at the door.  
"Lovely, Gerard," I glared at him. "_Fantastic_."  
"No, _that_ asshole-"  
"No- Gerard!" I begged as he bolted after him.  
But it didn't matter what I said. Gerard was after him.


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25

**_ POV**  
I barely got five feet before I heard Boyfriend. I really couldn't remember his name, even though he'd screamed it on stage a few nights ago. I remembered Little One's, though...Frank something. Which was a weird fucking name for him. Not that it was a bad one. Although it was. I just expected something more...careless. Like...Peter. Or Will. Even Josh. Or maybe a name you'd get from one of those hot, popular people. Like Flip, or Seth. I don't know why I felt so preoccupied with names, but I did.  
Boyfriend looked angry. I got excited.  
"What's wrong, Wop?"  
Boyfriend lunged at me in anger, apparently thinking he might be able to get the better of me.  
Barely holding in my laughter, though disappointed to take away the drama it could've added, I moved a bit to the right. It wasn't much, but it was enough to confuse him and give me the opportunity to shove his back into the wall that was at least a full foot behind him.  
"You sure you want to do that?" I demanded, surprised at my own control.  
He should've been dead by now.  
"Stop!" I vaguely heard Frank cry.  
"Piss off," Boyfriend growled, struggling against the firm arm I had across his neck.  
"Hey!" a sharp and angry voice came from behind.  
I turned around to confirm, to my annoyance, that it was Morgan.  
"Both of you. Back away,"  
I yanked my arm away from Boyfriend, and he stepped back towards Frank, never ridding of his glare.  
"Don't do that again," she warned.  
"Why are you looking at me?" Boyfriend whined.  
"It wouldn't happen if you didn't provoke him so much," she stated, obviously irritated to even be talking about it anymore.  
"You're defending..." he paused, probably clueless as to what insult to call me. "_That_?"  
Jeez. Even towards me, that was harsh.  
"Phoenix," Morgan said, frowning. "His name's Phoenix."  
"Phoenix?" I asked, too surprised at the moment that she had _given_ me a name to even realize what a _fucked up_ name it was.  
And _again_, my preoccupation with names.  
"Unless you'd rather keep going by 'it', 'that', and 'pale figure'," she shrugged.  
"I like it," I heard Frank mumble.  
I finally turned to look at him. My mind and body, together, created a strange feeling that threw me off, turning what I'd intended to be a laugh into a little gasp.  
I looked back at Boyfriend, unsurprised to find that he was still glaring at me.  
"Frankie," he said softly, trailing his fingers down Frank's arm to take his hand. "Let's go."  
Frankie...Frankie...  
It kind of surprised me that I would think so intensely over something Boyfriend said, but the nickname kind of stuck. Sounded more like him than Frank...more of a...happy...name. Not that I cared or anything. His real name just didn't seem right. Of course, I guess his real name would have been Franklin, but that didn't seem to fit, either. Again...not that it mattered. _Why did I care so much about names that day_?  
Frankie followed obediently, smiling up at Boyfriend.  
Had the circumstances been different, I'd say that was the day the monster in me woke.

* * *

**F POV**  
Phoenix. I remembered how his other form looked; that name fit him. He seemed surprised by it, too, so I guess he didn't realize he had a name, either. But Gerard - _God_ he's an asshole sometimes.  
"You didn't have to _go after him_," I said once we got into our room. "Everything would have been perfectly okay if you'd just stayed with me. How's your neck?"  
I touched it gently, making him smile.  
"Fine. He's actually not that strong...his nails just scare the crap outta me,"  
"Enough so that you can't even wiggle out of his grasp?"  
His eyes narrowed.  
"Yes, actually...I could've gotten away on my own, if his nails weren't...Wolverine-like,"  
"Except they're actually _nails_ and not bone,"  
"Yeah, which makes them even freakier,"  
"Actually, it would make them more normal, seeing as a lot of people grow really long nails, and...well...no one pushes bone-claws out of their flesh,"  
"Except Wolverine,"  
"Yes,"  
"And he's awesome,"  
"And why is he awesome, but not Phoenix?"  
"Ah, you're using his _name_,"  
"Seriously, why?"  
"'Cause _Phoenix_ is an _asshole_,"  
"So is Wolverine,"  
"But Wolverine is the good kind of asshole. Not the selfish, murderous kind of asshole,"  
"How do you know Phoenix _is_ selfish and murderous?"  
"Because he's selfish...and murderous,"  
"That's just circular logic,"  
"Exactly,"  
"You're not helping yourself,"  
"I'm not, but you are,"  
"Whatever, it doesn't matter. What matters is how I'm gonna double-finger-fuck you with this cast on,"  
"Oh, that's right, you can't get it wet,"  
"And that's a problem," I whispered seductively, coming closer.  
"Yeah, it is," he murmured.  
Our lips touched, softly at first, gaining ardor with every passing second. He cupped my chin with one hand, and pulled me closer by the waist with the other. But, for the first time with him, I felt more curious than turned on. I pulled away, which made him pout.  
"You think...the term Duplicate...means...there's a duplicated part of our minds-"  
"I dunno, babe, I barely know what the term 'Illusionist' means," Gee said.  
"I know, but if it's _what we are_ then- I mean, what is it, a species or something? I always thought I was human,"  
"I'm pretty sure you _are_ human," he assured me.  
"Jesus, I'm gonna go crazy,"  
"I think you already are,"  
"Oh, you don't _still_ think I'm depressed, do you?"  
"That's not what I was referring to," he shook his head. "No, I don't still think that. Depression doesn't make you crazy, anyway."  
"Whatever," I said, backing away toward the door. "I have my vindication, and that's all that matters."  
"Yeah, you're right, I'm wrong, isn't that always how it works? Where are you going?"  
"I'm gonna go apologize for you,"  
"What? To who?"  
"To Phoenix,"  
"_For what_?"  
"For being an assduck,"  
"What the _hell_ is an assduck?"  
"It's something that rhymes with stupid fuck,"  
"He was the one-"  
"No, you attacked him for no reason,"  
"He-"  
"No,"  
"Yes!"  
"I'm going now,"  
He only glared at me, them stormed off into the bedroom. What was his _problem_?


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter 26

I found Phoenix a floor above my room, sitting against the balcony in a form I'd never seen before. It looked much more human than his usual form, but still extremely unnatural. He still had neon red eyes, but the red stayed in his irises. He still had pale skin and freakishly long nails, but his teeth were whiter, although still not entirely human, and he had hair. He also had a strange, transfixed expression on his face.  
"That's a new form," I said.  
He jumped a little, out of his trance.  
"Huh? Oh...um...half form..."  
He slowly started to fade away into his thoughts again, so I tried sitting across from his to see if he'd snap out of it for good.  
"Yes?" he asked. "Oh, shit!"  
"What?" I asked, a little worried.  
He quickly faded into his usual form.  
"Erm..."  
"You're not _always_ a eunuch, are you?" I asked, close to laughter.  
"Well...no,"  
I started giggling, even though I knew it might make him angry.  
"Jesus...people think _my_ laugh is weird. You're a fucking man, and you laugh like a little girl,"  
"Pot laugh," I said. "I was the pot smoking _king_ when I was in high school."  
"As long as you have a good excuse,"  
I smiled, waiting for more sarcasm. There was only a moment of awkward silence.  
"So...uh...what do you want?"  
"Um...to say...I'm sorry,"  
"For what?"  
"For...Gerard,"  
He started to laugh a little.  
"You're apologizing...for me...slamming him against the wall and almost beating him to death?"  
"No...I'm sorry he came after you like that,"  
His eyes narrowed, like he felt doubtful.  
"You are a straaange little dude, you know that?"  
"Erm...why do you say that?"  
"The first time you saw me, you fainted, and then got angry at me and started hating me, but then when your boyfriend 'comes after me,' you're _sorry_. Why?"  
"I didn't _faint_, you attacked me!"  
"I shoved you into a tree, and you fainted,"  
"I fainted because you attacked me,"  
"Nnnnnno, you fainted because you were scared of me. Trust me, I'm not that strong in this form, really my only weapons are speed and...these," he wiggled his nails. "Which makes your boyfriend pretty pathetic. And you pretty pathetic, really. At least physically, because not a lot of people get over their fears as quickly as you seem to."  
"Gerard isn't pathetic, your nails are-"  
"-not the only place on my body he could've shoved in order to get me away. But I understand they_are_ hard to ignore. So maybe you two are _not_ physically weak and strong in the mind, maybe it's the other way around."  
"Why do you assume it's either-or?"  
He lifted his hand and brushed my cheek with one of his nails. The sudden fear increased my heart rate and I exhaled sharply, wondering how easily his nail could break through my skin.  
"_Do_ I still scare you?" he asked.  
I swallowed.  
"Only your nails," I replied after a moment.  
He withdrew his hand and chuckled.  
"Ask," he commanded.  
"Ask...what?"  
"That's what you _really_ came here for,"  
"Well, actually...okay...yeah, eventually,"  
There was another awkward silence.  
"Speak," he said.  
"What's a Duplicate?"  
"You're a Duplicate?"  
"I _know that_, but what does that _mean_?"  
"It's means you exist in the real world, too,"  
Well...that was a lot more simple than I thought it was going to be.  
"You mean, like...wait, but I can't-"  
"Basically...there was already a Frank...whatever-"  
"Iero,"  
"Don't care. There was already a _you_ in the real world. Morgan knew about _that_ you, and _this_ you came into existence. Therefore, she duplicated someone in her mind, and you are that duplicate."  
It took a moment for that to sink in. I was _cloned_, basically. _God,_ that made me angry. I wasn't Morgan's creation, I was a natural occurrence.  
"She didn't even _make me_ and she's trying to control me- [i]God,/] that's _fucking retarded_! What a_bitch_! And she didn't even tell me? _God_!"  
I shot up, now determined to find her and verbally assault her _yet again_. Phoenix, meanwhile, only let loose his laugh.

~~~~~~~~~~

Morgan was sitting at a corner table on the main floor, watching the holograms play. I put up a wall, just in case she wanted to know what I felt angry about before I bit her head off. She saw me coming, and smirked.  
"Who am I a duplicate of?" I asked sharply.  
"I wondered when you'd ask that...didn't think you'd be so _angry, _though_,"  
"_And _I_ was wondering when you'd tell me," I shot back. "But I guess it's a survival of the...mentally..."  
"I'll interrupt, so that you don't embarrass yourself," she said. "Come with me."  
She led me up the stairs in silence. Eventually she stopped, and brought me into the computer lab. My first instinct was to slap her for procrastinating. But then it occurred to me that she might be _showing_ me.  
"Have a seat," she said, kneeling beside a computer and shifting the keyboard to face her.  
I hesitantly took a seat, only _then_ feeling nervous about the answer to my question.  
She pulled up the internet, then started typing fast enough to confuse my eyes, clicking with the mouse every now and then.  
"My Chemical Romance, Frank Iero, rhythm guitarist," she recited, pulling back to reveal a scary picture of me playing guitar.  
"I knew the last two things," I grumbled. "What's the first?"  
"A band," she stated. "A very popular rock band. You mean you didn't suspect with all the tattoos, and peircings, and 'mad guitar skills?'"  
"No," I muttered, wondering if I should've felt as stupid as I did.  
"Well," she said awkwardly. "That's you. You can look up your bio on Wikipedia and your band's website. You're a klutz in real life, too."  
Even through my anger I had to laugh.  
"You want me to leave you here to look around?"  
"Yeah," I said, anger beginning to pass into curiosity.  
I waited until I heard footsteps on the stairs, then went on youtube. Youtube eventually led me to fan sites, which led me to fan art, which led me...well...everything else. I had mixed feelings of shock and confusion. How could I be a duplicate if I seemed so _different_ than the original? Really, the only things we had in common were Gerard, tattoos, and arachnophobia.  
Oh, and the original _Gerard_? He had a _wife_. Yeah...I didn't like that. It didn't help that she was absolutely _gorgeous_, either. _God,_ that pissed me off. But at least I had a wife, too. I mean, if he can be a hetero-slut, I can. Ah, yes...I did say I was like a middle school girl when it comes to bitches, didn't I? Yeah, I meant that. Unless it comes to _slapping_ bitches. Then I'm like a high school girl.  
And right then, I wanted to _slap a bitch._


	27. Chapter 27

**A/N: PLEEAAASE COMMENT IF YOU'RE READING?**

Chapter 27

I slammed the door behind me.  
"Gee!"  
I knew he was right on the couch, but I'd imagined a scenario where I screamed and he came out of the bedroom with a worried look on his face...so I went ahead and screamed.  
"Yeees, Frankie?"  
"I know what a Duplicate is," I said, trying to make my distress obvious in my voice.  
Of course, the pouting and arm folding probably worked just fine, but I had to make sure.  
"And what is it?"  
I sat down next to him and told him what I had just found out. He only laughed a little, which just upset me more. He was supposed to _agree _with me and _support_ me, not _laugh_ at me.  
"Are you upset that Morgan showed her lazy, uncreative side with us, or are you upset that I have a wife?"  
"Both,"  
"Babe, you know in this world you're the only one I want,"  
"Aw," I wasn't expecting something sweet to _automatically_ come out of his mouth.  
"_Your_ wife, however..."  
"Don't be silly, Gee...even if I was a tiny bit straight, you'd knock that right outta me,"  
"Literally or figuratively?"  
"Both,"  
I placed a soft kiss on his smirking lips. He kissed back for a moment, then pulled back. His expression hadn't changed, but I could tell his thoughts had.  
"Were you _alone_ with Phoenix?"  
Was that still worry he felt about Phoenix?  
"Yes," I replied simply. "Why?"  
"Because he's got nails like a samurai sword!"  
"Just one?"  
"Frankie...even if he's human, he's a batshit insane human,"  
"Every human is batshit insane,"  
He gave me an irritated look. "Not. Like. Him."  
"Well, okay, you've thought about _Phoenix's nails_ again, now what about our _species_, or whatever the fuck it is?"  
"Actually, it makes me feel better about myself,"  
"_How_?"  
"Frankie...have you seen what she makes? I'm _normal_ compared to those creatures. I've never felt this normal before in my life,"  
"She still took us and stole 'choice' from our vocabulary,"  
"Yeah...but you could look at it this way...in real life we couldn't be together...here we can get married and do whatever we want...we can do it together...forever...and ever..."  
He kissed my neck as he said this, making me smile. His hand went to my waist and gently caressed it. It wasn't his hand that he wanted me to feel, though...it was something _below_ his hand that he wanted me to feel.  
_Dammit_, he won.

I zipped up my pants and looked back at my sleeping boyfriend. He didn't look _peaceful_, per say...more like slightly _retarded_. But I could tell he _felt_ peaceful, and I couldn't interrupt that. Especially after he'd been so truculent lately.  
Staying in the room with him, however, didn't appeal to me. I was bored, and I'd spent so much time in a hotel room in the past month that I felt sick. So I snuck out the door as quietly as I could, determined to go somewhere, _anywhere_, even if it got me in trouble. _Especially_ if it got me in trouble.  
But not outside. I'd had enough experience with outside.  
_I bet she has a graveyard,_ I thought.  
Then I paused, waiting to see if she'd respond. She didn't, though, so she must not have been listening for once. So, satisfied that no one was watching me, I started toward the elevator. She hadn't shown us every floor, since apparently even _she_ didn't know how many floors were there, so it took a while for me to find it. First I went to a chapel by accident - a _completely_ different place than I wanted to be. Then I went to the skateboard park, a really fuckin weird place for an elevator to take you, by the way, and received some uncertain looks from its inhabitants.  
Finally, after watching the elevator doors open a million times to reveal a million things I didn't want, the doors finally opened to reveal several rows of chairs in front of a coffin, centered in a grassy plane pierced with headstones. I didn't see a soul on the left - ha, pathetic graveyard humor - or in front, so for some reason I assumed that meant no one was there. I went right and started wandering aimlessly, occasionally looking at names on gravestones and seeing if they led a long life, or if someone thought about them recently and decided to adorn their graves again. Then I turned around and wandered without really looking where I was going. Until I saw feet in my pathway.  
I jumped a little. Right behind the canopy in front of a freshly adorned grave stood a woman only slightly taller than me - I _hate_ it when women are taller than me. She had short black hair, and, truthfully, were I to rate her on a scale of one to ten, she'd be a five at most. She didn't appear to be crying, and her long-sleeved yellow shirt and dark jeans didn't give her a depressed aura, but her face did have a grieved expression. She jumped slightly, too, when she saw me in awkward proximity.  
"Oh!" I said.  
"Oh, ah, hi...what are you doing here? I mean- I'm sorry, that's...not...something you ask someone. I'm sorry,"  
"No - it's - I'm sorry, I-"  
I didn't really know what either of us were sorry for anymore. I just knew they were words being said, so I said them.  
"No, ah...okay-"  
"I'm Frank," I said, hoping to put an end to the awkward "no"s and "I'm sorry"s.  
"I'm Mary,"  
Why were we introducing ourselves? It was a fucking graveyard. You have an excuse to be a loner in places like that.  
"You're...the...new guitarist,"  
She paused before adding, "You're not wearing a tutu."  
"Ah, no...I usually save that for the stage. _Usually_,"  
"Right," she half-laughed. "How long have you been here?"  
That was an interesting question. Was that a typical question for people here to ask?  
"Sorry, I know that's a weird question, but you just...seem new,"  
"I...am...new,"  
"I see you and Morgan fighting sometimes, so-"  
"You mean verbally or mentally?"  
Now she looked confused.  
"Verbally. Of course, a lot of people are fighting with her now, because of...the ones from outside,"  
"So I'm not the only one who knows she's a bitch,"  
Oops. I guess it's not nice to curse in front of someone you just met. Especially Mary, apparently, because she winced once I said that.  
"She's...tempestuous. But I can't blame her,"  
Oh dear, now's the scene in the musical where they reveal the secrets of the mysterious-  
"I should go now," she said.  
_Damn_.


	28. Chapter 28

I waited a few minutes after Mary left to head for the elevator under the canopy. Even Morgan seemed to like things to stay inconspicuous, because the only way I could tell there was an elevator was a small stud jutting out on the wall behind the rows of chairs, which I assumed to be a button. There _were_ stairs - I guess she also wanted people to have the option of _not_ being lazy, but...I _was_ lazy. So I took the elevator.  
But going back to my room still didn't appeal to me, so I decided to do something potentially stupider than going outside. I decided to talk to its maker.

* * *

I figured the main level would be my best guess. It seemed like, when Morgan wasn't fixing a problem, she tried to be somewhere where she could keep an eye on things. I was right. She sat in a corner, where she always seemed to sit, reading. Something I could expect from a _normal _thirteen-year-old. Not something I expected from a _sadistic_ thirteen-year-old.  
For a few moments after approaching her, I merely stood awkwardly in front of her. I wondered if she even knew I was there, or if I could turn back without her ever knowing. But then I realized that was a _completely_ ridiculous thought, and it was even _more_ ridiculous that I felt scared to talk to her.  
"Morgan?" I asked timidly.  
"Yeah?" she responded, turning a page.  
"All those times Gee and I went to your house...where were your parents?"  
Her eyes froze and her lips seemed to tighten.  
"That's none of your business," she murmured coldly.

* * *

"Hey, where you been?" Gerard asked once I walked in our room.  
"Graveyard,"  
"Oh,"  
"And I talked to Morgan,"  
He raised one eyebrow.  
"Why is it not stranger that I went for a walk in a graveyard than that I talked to Morgan?"  
"Because graveyards are normal for you. Morgan is not,"  
"That's...circular reasoning- nevermind,"  
I told him about the short and not-so-sweet "conversation" we had, and about meeting Mary.  
"Why didn't we think of that before? I mean, dead parents...that's totally something that turns you into a bitch," I said.  
"Whoa, Frankie, how do you know they're dead?"  
"Well..."  
"They're not dead,"  
"I dunno..." I hesitated.  
"What makes you _think_ they're dead?" Gee pressed.  
"Just the way she froze," I told him.  
"She _could_ just hate them," he said, being rational, as always. "Or maybe they hate her. You can't know they're dead."  
"But," I argued. "Just because we don't _know_, doesn't mean they're_not_."  
"True," he agreed. "But...we shouldn't assume things, babe."  
"I _know_,"  
I hate it when he shoves..._knowledge_...in my face. Or analytical thinking. Especially analytical thinking, because he's an artist...he doesn't get analytical thinking, he gets creative thinking. But anywho.  
"Was Mary a duplicate?"  
"I dunno, I didn't ask. Why?"  
"I wanna meet a duplicate that's been here longer,"  
"That would be helpful, wouldn't it..." I trailed off, suddenly wondering if anyone from outside was a duplicate.  
But I wasn't going back outside.


	29. Chapter 29

**A/N: Zviker = VEE-KER**

Later, I didn't keep track to see how much later, Morgan showed up at my door. She had a different expression on her face than any I'd ever seen before. It almost resembled...nervousness. I thought she'd just come to show me more _mental tricks_, and my earlier confrontation made her reluctant to be around me. But she proved me wrong.  
"I've been...vague with you," she admitted, walking in. "You've had to go to _Phoenix_ to get explanations. Tells you how much I suck at this."  
"Okay," I said, a little too surprised to come up with something else.  
"I should have..._elaborated_...on Lunadr. You started to ask me, but I snapped at you,"  
"You always snap at me,"  
"Yeah. I do. But that time I should have listened,"  
"Because Lunadr is...after your mind," I stated, hoping I had all the explanation I needed.  
She looked at me and nodded.  
"You also asked about my parents," she continued. "My mother's dead. She died in a house fire. Lunadr's Illusionist did that. Before that happened, I thought my father died of some illness several years before...but he didn't. He's an Illusionist, too. Zviker is his world. That's why Conall wants _my_ power. It's extremely rare that an Illusionist's offspring would have the same power. But when it happens, it makes the offspring unusually strong. At least that's what I've been told."  
She didn't seem to believe she was more powerful.  
"An Illusionist can only spend so much time in another world. The same with the Illusionist's creations. That's why you had to come here when you did. It's like having an autoimmune disease. The world...the other magic...is strange to you...and you to it...so you deteriorate. Unless you get rid of the source of the magic. That's another benefit of killing off Illusionists,"  
_Killing off_? That's a blunt way to put it.  
"That's also why my dad can't be in Miracea...or why I can't be in Zviker. But that's not why I'm telling you this. If they take my mind...since you're Connected...God only knows what would happen to you,"  
That's almost exactly what Phoenix said. Except I would think _Morgan _would know.  
"'_God_ only knows?' What about _you_, don't _you_ know?"  
"No. It's not like anyone's written a book about this shit. I have no idea what would happen to you. At least as a direct result,"  
"Why did you pick me, then?"  
She looked confused.  
"I thought we went over this. I can't-"  
"I know. Why did you make me _Connected_?"  
"I didn't. Not intentionally, at least. My mind...touched yours differently. It happened with Daniel, too, but just barely. He can only hear my thoughts. Most of the Connected can block their makers' magic,"  
"Is Daniel a duplicate?"  
"No,"  
"Is anyone else here a duplicate?"  
"Yes,"  
I tried to remember everything else she'd told me, while she was here to answer my questions. _Doing so would kill her as well_...  
"Why can't you kill people?" I asked. "If you can stop their heart, or breath...why would that kill you?"  
"My mind...won't let me. With the power...comes restrictions. I already told you I can only affect things with brains...I'm also not allowed to kill anyone...or make anyone kill themselves. Then my own mind would turn on me,"  
"So how would...Conall, or whatever...kill you?"  
"Take my power. I don't know how he plans to do that,"  
"How many are like Conall?" I asked.  
She shook her head. "It's just him. And...really...I don't think he was always cruel. Maybe power-hungry, but not cruel. He taught my dad everything he knew...and my dad taught me everything I know."  
I nodded. "And you're not cruel. By any means."  
She smiled a little.  
"Maybe a bitch," I mended. "But...you care. Even if it's just an exit sign."  
She laughed.  
I glanced over at the bedroom door, and saw a shadow at the bottom. Gee was eavesdropping.  
"It was your dad who stopped the guy from castrating me, wasn't it?"  
She nodded.  
"Dad doesn't stay here...but he keeps an eye on me. I guess to make sure this place doesn't...go cold. It's like his grandworld, you know? He probably saw you 'cause he likes the outside the best. No duplicates there. Sorry."  
At least in that slightly offensive statement came _one_ answer.  
"Ah...I'm used to being a political subject,"  
Then her cell phone went off. I would start ranting about how a thirteen-year-old shouldn't have a cell phone, but...well...  
"They're turning downstairs into a strip club," she read from a text.  
"Is that an invitation?"  
"No, it's a parting comment. I gotta go get them their clothes back,"  
I held back laughter as she departed. Once the door shut all the way, Gee came out of our room.  
"Well," he said. "You were half right. And she _does_ have a soft side."


	30. Chapter 30

**M POV**  
After disbanding the unclothed drunks, I saw Phoenix in the right corner farthest away from the stage. I guessed he was having his pathetic revenge on all those who vandalized his tree, because he appeared to be carving something into the floor with his nails. I went up to him, and knelt down next to him. He looked up at me.  
"What are you doing?"  
He stared at me for a while before answering. "You let them carve obscene love letters into my tree...now you're gonna let me carve obscene hate letters into their floor."  
I looked down at what he had already carved.  
_Cunts,_  
"Phoenix...this isn't their floor. They don't care what happens to it,"  
He stared at me with his best attempt at a poker face. But I could tell that what I said shocked him.  
"They just don't give a shit?"  
"No,"  
"This is their environment...and they just don't give a shit what I do to it?"  
"No,"  
"I guess my tree is just a tree to them,"  
"Yep. To them, you're actually being extremely childish,"  
"That's not relevant. That's _my_ tree. Just because I couldn't reach them when they attacked it doesn't mean it was _their_ tree,"  
"I know. _They_ didn't know. You have to understand...where they live, they can fix anything they break. If this place gets burned down, they can go somewhere else. It's not the only place they've known,"  
"They had a choice in that," he stated.  
I froze; a learned instinct to keep me from breaking down.  
"Yes, they did," I admitted.  
"You gave _them_ a choice,"  
I stared at him.  
"I gave _some_ of them a choice,"  
We stayed silent for a while.  
"_Daddy_ didn't teach you compassion well enough,"  
"And _I_ didn't teach _you_ passive-aggressive well enough,"  
"You didn't teach me anything,"  
I swallowed.  
"The barriers don't have to be so cruel," he said.  
Cruel. That word had been thrown around so carelessly over the past few months. But, I guess I thought since I said I cared, and I gave everyone plenty of room, it didn't matter that I still kept them in a cage.  
Specifically Phoenix. He was different. He and Emma were the most human things out there - and the isolation and near-nothingness was driving Phoenix insane.  
Emma was already insane, though not from my doing.  
"I didn't know they were. They were here before I was. I didn't know until it was too late,"  
He looked down, changing into his half form.  
"What is that thing you always say?" he asked. "The best creations...are the ones that create themselves. The barriers created themselves? _I_...created myself? It seems like you need to rethink that."  
"I don't think so,"  
He only looked more hurt after I said that.  
"Can you change them?" he asked.  
"I can try,"  
He looked satisfied with that.  
"Okay," he said.  
"Okay,"  
I stood up, then, just as he noticed his current form and began changing back, I remembered something.  
"You know, I gave you clothes," I told him.  
"Yeah, so?" he retorted.  
"Dearie...no one wants to see your asshole," I said as gently as I could. "Cover it up."  
"But...those clothes...don't fit-"  
"Oh, they do," I said, trying to hide my smile. "You just have to...make them."  
His eyes narrowed, and I could tell he loathed me more than ever.  
"You said you didn't mind me walking around like-"  
"It's not the scaring people...it's your asscrack," I assured him. "I don't wanna see it. No one does."  
"Asscrack? People walk around here showing their asscrack all the time. 'Specially that Lady GaGa hologram,"  
"Okay," I said. "Then just for a day. See if you like it."  
"Seriously?" he asked, clearly annoyed.  
"Yep,"  
"God, you're impossible,"  
"So I've been told,"


	31. Chapter 31

**F POV**  
"See, _now_ you can go to _Morgan_ for questions, instead of risking your neck to ask _creatures_," Gee said.  
And suddenly he irritated me.  
"Firstly, what do you mean _creatures_? Even Morgan said not all of them are dangerous. _Emma's_ not dangerous. I don't see why you're so disdainful of them. Secondly, I don't think this _one_ conversation with Morgan automatically took down all her defense mechanisms, or whatever her problem is,"  
"No, but now she knows to answer your questions. Why so snappy?"  
"You're one to talk about being snappy,"  
"I'm not snappy! I just don't want you to get hurt!"  
"_That's_ snappy!"  
"When did I ask to be attacked?"  
"When you started being an asshole!"  
"You can't tell me you _like_ them all of the sudden,"  
"Not all of them. The one who rips his head off and throws it at people scares me. The mermaids scare me. But some of them are completely innocent!"  
"And I'm sure Steve Irwin thought stingrays were innocent,"  
"My _God_, some of them are fucking _bunnies_ with an _extra anus_! I'm not even so sure they don't exist on _Earth_!"  
"So go make friends with them! Go make friends with them, and end up in the hospital _again_!"  
"Fine. I will,"  
I stormed out. He didn't try to stop me, or even yell after me.  
Vaguely, as I made my way up a few floors, I realized it was my fault. I'd snapped at him, when I understood where he was coming from. Some of the creatures Morgan made _were_ dangerous, and I _was_ mingling with them like an idiot would. But it also irritated me that he judged the _normal_ ones because of the _abnormal_ ones.  
Yet, at the same time, I felt like I should get over whatever irritation I had with Gee. We picked too many fights. I feared if I picked many more, I may just end up using the extra key Morgan gave me.  
I hadn't really been paying much attention to where I was going, what with fuming over the pointless fight I'd just had, so I ended up on some floor I only barely remembered seeing on the first day there. Some complicated lab that looks like it's not so much used for testing as for entering scientific data, with touch screen computers hovering in the air. One computer had some complicated formula on it.  
And there was Phoenix. In his completely human form. Standing up against the wall, solving the mathematical riddle, _dressed_, and with no apparent ulterior motive. He looked...good, unfortunately. Actually, it seemed like the part in the movie where "Superstition" would start playing, and I'd scan him from the feet up.  
But I was too preoccupied with the fact that he was doing math to do any scanning.  
"What are you doing here?" he asked me in a distracted tone, writing signs I'd never seen before in my life.  
"Existing," I said. "What are _you_ doing?"  
"The same,"  
"Noooo...no, you're existing in a much more unnecessarily complicated way than I am,"  
He finally looked at me, confused.  
"I didn't know you liked math,"  
"Well, I do. At least it can't talk back,"  
"I've never heard something so antisocial in my life,"  
"Try being isolated with a creature whose vocal capacity is that of a caveman for the first year of your life, and see if you like people,"  
"I would think I would like people more. But you had Emma, so you-"  
He gave me a highly amused look.  
"Nevermind,"  
Then another part of what he just said clicked.  
"You're only a year old?" I asked.  
"That's what I just said," he confirmed, turning back to his tablet.  
"You're not a year old," I said dubiously.  
"I'm not human, either,"  
"No, you're not,"  
"Still older than you, I guess,"  
"And how old am I?"  
"Three months, at most,"  
"Oh, I see. It depends on when she created us,"  
"Yeah, you could say that. I bet she wouldn't. But it's true,"  
"Right. She'd just give me some bullshit about how I made myself,"  
He looked at me again.  
"You've officially grasped her entire thought process. Congratulations. Now you can understand exactly why _nothing_ is her fault,"  
"Well. Thank you. If not for being suffocated in your sarcasm, I wouldn't know how you _really_ feel,"  
He half-laughed, and looked away again.  
"If you were really isolated so much, how do you know so much about calculus?"  
"This isn't calculus, this is Fourier analysis,"  
"What-the-fuck-_ever_, I'm pretty sure the caveman didn't teach you that,"  
He smiled broadly.  
"You are the gayest person I've ever met. No, the caveman didn't teach me anything. I don't know where this came from, it's just there,"  
There was an awkward silence for a moment.  
"You look good," I blurted out.  
Shit. Did he not just say I was the gayest person he's ever met?  
He looked at me in surprise, then irritation.  
"Morgan told you to say that," he glared at me, eyes fading back and forth from red to brown.  
_'Least he doesn't think I'm hitting on him,_  
I shrugged. "Worth a try on her part."  
He raised an eyebrow.  
"Where's Boyfriend? Getting the fish sticks?"  
"I don't think you entirely got that South Park joke. No, he's...somewhere. Being an asshole,"  
"Being an asshole, or banging an asshole?"  
"Why do you have to be so vulgar? No, he's _being_ an asshole, so I don't know and I don't care where he is,"  
"Okaaaay, I'm not a relationship counselor, so don't even bother,"  
"_You're_ an asshole. You're _both_ assholes,"  
"Take a midol, you're worse than Morgan,"  
"Why do you hate her so much?"  
For the first time in a while, he looked like sincerely wanted to hurt me again. His eyes looked like they were filling with blood as he slowly changed forms.  
"Should I _not_...hate her?"  
I hesitated before I risked my life with a reaction. Gerard was right.  
"I don't know," I murmured. "I just thought...you know, _she_ seems to care, if you really pay attention, so-"  
"_She does not care_! She's in the perfect position to create someone just to fill their life with misery. An Illusionist's entire existence is all about theory, not facts. No one knows anything about her mind, and she uses that to form excuses and explanations for why she makes life so cruel. No one can prove that she's toying with us, but she is,"  
I stared at him for a while. The last time I'd seen him this passionate was...when I asked him why she put him in a cage.  
"Is it the boundaries?"  
His eyes changed back to brown and he nodded. I wondered why he didn't just let himself change forms.  
"You said it yourself, she made us just to put us in a cage. Like we're animals. But it's not like a solid force, preventing us from going any further. It's like being set on fire. And you saw what happened to the _caveman's_ skull. How it finally just burst. That's what happens when you go too far,"  
I didn't know what to say. Every sarcastic or rude remark Morgan made, I assumed had a reason behind it. I saw Morgan's tortured past - but I'd completely missed Phoenix's. Even after every insult he'd given me, or every punch thrown Gerard's way, I still thought he was just an asshole.  
"I'm sorry,"  
"No, you're not,"  
"No...I am,"  
Then, faster than a bullet could have killed me, I left my own reality to stare down at a coffee table. My heart broke, and guilt bit at the ragged edges. My very skin became numb, and the air became thick. Yet no tear ran down my face, nor did a sigh try to escape my lips.  
Morgan was familiar with Phoenix's feelings, as well as her own guilt for causing them. But somehow, though she had guilt, she knew there was a deeper reason than Phoenix saw. An underlying issue for what he blamed her for - though it was something he may call an "excuse."  
I remembered what she said about trying too hard to leave her head, so I tried not to panic. As she tried to block out her feelings, I tried to shove them away as well. I snapped back into my own reality, though I found myself on the floor leaning against the wall.  
Phoenix stared at me.  
"That was her...in your head," he said.  
"No...that was me...in her head," I said. "And you're wrong. _I_ can prove she's not toying with us."  
He stared at me for a while, saved his complex equation, and then tore past me, out the door.


	32. Chapter 32

**P POV**  
_I don't know what he just saw and I don't care what he just saw,_ I told myself. _It's nothing I don't already know._  
How could he know more about her than I do? How could he pretend to? Yet, though I knew those were legitimate questions, I still couldn't help but trust him. _My trust_, though, is an odd thing to consider as_deserved_. Really, I should consider the fact that _he_ seems to trust _me_. But, then again, maybe I knocked the rest of his brain cells out that day in the field.  
"Why won't you change forms?"  
"Dear _God, why would she duplicate you_?"  
"Because I'm short and adorable,"  
Well...he was that. To other people. Not to me.  
"I'm sure your priest thought so, too,"  
His eyes widened.  
"She dared you to stay in that form for a day,"  
"If you could figure it out, why'd you have to fuckin' ask?"  
"To make sure,"  
I tried to walk away.  
"Why'd you do it if you hate her?"  
"If I was Voldemort, I would be _shutting you up_ right now,"  
That seemed to send him in deep thought.  
"Hmm...there are similarities, aren't there?" he muttered, more to himself than to me.  
"Go find your butt buddy. Okay? Go make up, and have masochistic sex with him, because you are going to drive me crazy,"  
"I would normally accept that proposition wholeheartedly, but right now I'm trying to make a point to you,"  
"Don't I always prove you wrong?"  
"You don't really believe she's that cruel. Otherwise you wouldn't listen to her. You know she knows what she's talking about. Even if it's subconsciously, you have faith in her. You're just too focused on the uncertainty,"  
I really didn't think he'd had that much time to think about it.  
"Like how you're not sure how you know calculus-"  
"Fourier analysis,"  
"But you know it. You _know_ there's a possibility that something can exist in your mind, without your knowledge that it's there or how it got there,"  
"There's a difference-"  
"Is there? You're both human. You're both fucked in the head,"  
I felt my heart start to race, as I realized I couldn't come up with a rebuttal. Yet he stared at me, waiting for an answer. I just stared back, feeling my heart beat faster.  
"If anything, I think you realize she cares more about you than about any other creature she's made,"  
"Bullshit,"  
"No, I don't think it is,"  
"You're not a fucking therapist,"  
"No, but I play music. It's close enough,"  
"Is not,"  
"Does better than actual therapy sometimes,"  
"More bullshit,"  
"_Please._ That's pretty much what it's _for_,"  
"_What_?"  
"_Normally_ people express themselves through music, rather than throwing other people into trees,"  
"You can really hold a grudge, can't you?"  
He giggled his pot-tainted giggle. I had to admit it - _had to_...it was adorable. And in that moment - for a reason not having anything to do with a missing rebuttal, so cruel I don't believe even Morgan could have designed it - my heart beat a little faster.

* * *

**F POV**  
I had to admit it - _had to_...at that point it was really hard not to get_excited_. He gave me a smirk after I laughed that nearly made me lose track of my anti-boner thoughts. It almost made me wish he would just stay in his hideous form. Which made me wonder.  
"Why don't you ever clip your nails?"  
And suddenly he turned from amused to irritated.  
"Because I don't give a fuck if people shit themselves when they look at me,"  
"But they've gotta get in the way sometimes," I said. "I mean, I know outside you didn't have anything to clip them with. But now you do."  
He seemed reluctant to answer.  
"I can't," he finally admitted. "They're indestructible. I mean...I think. It's not like I've dipped them in lava or anything."  
"Hm...did they have a use?"  
"You mean for something other than slitting a midget's throat?"  
I half-laughed.  
"Yeah. Like...burrowing, or something,"  
He burst out laughing.  
"Yeah, I _totally_ burrow,"  
"Just an example,"  
"You want me to show you?"  
I swallowed. Was that a threat?  
"I'm not gonna hurt you," he laughed.  
"Oh. Um...what do you mean show...? Like...go outside?"  
"You scared?"  
"Well..._yeah_,"  
"You shouldn't be. I'm one of the deadliest things out there,"  
"Um...okay, then," I agreed, wondering if this counted as _socializing_, or if he was still just proving his knowledge to me.  
We started downstairs again, then darted out the door before anyone could stop us. This time when I stepped outside, I heard no singing except for that of the wind. I looked over at Phoenix, and saw only an inkling of a smile.  
"Emma's inside," he said.  
"Is that a good thing?"  
"That's a _very_ good thing," he said, smiling a little more.  
He led me toward his part of the field, and stopped near the lone tree. I had a feeling he was very fond of that tree, specifically since he grimaced when he looked at the carvings on it. Then I saw the jagged holes in the sides.  
"You climb your tree?"  
"Like a goddamn cat," he said. "But nails aren't really necessary for that. Up."  
He pointed up and patted my back, gesturing for me to climb it myself. He followed me up, until he told me to stop. He climbed slightly higher than me, and sat on a branch about a foot and a half away.  
"My nails must not be made up of keratin, like yours. Not just since I can't clip 'em, but also because they interact with elements differently,"  
He changed into his half form and pressed his index nail gently on a leaf. The leaf rippled slightly, and then seemed to evaporate into some type of colorful gas. First it looked blue, then green, then yellow, and red. It took on more odors than colors, more shapes than odors, and, crazy as it seems, more personalities than shapes.  
Now I knew why he liked the tree so much. It must have been the closest he had to human interaction for the first year of his life. Not only that, the life it had in it was more captivating than anything I'd seen in his part of the land. The chimerical spirits clung to my being, they possessed my mind, infecting me with certainty. For once, my world was steady.  
"Touch it," he told me.  
I did as he commanded, not even considering the fact that I'd only known the man a month and now he was telling me to touch a foreign chemical substance that could potentially do damage beyond repair. But, rather than rotting off my flesh, it solidified, returned to its original form, and floated to the ground.  
For a few moments, I couldn't speak. After everything I'd seen, especially outside, I shouldn't have felt as amazed as I did by that experience. So, even when I found my voice, I didn't want to interrupt the moment of bliss.  
"Oh," was all I could think to say for a moment. "Did that have a purpose, though?"  
"Depends what you consider a 'purpose,'" he said.  
I looked at him. He'd never seemed so calm before. His eyes held a secret happiness that met my own, and fled inside a chamber of my ever-curious heart. A desire passed through me, source unknown, to take his hand in mine. It felt hard to suppress - not because the desire overwhelmed me, but because the need to abandon inhibitions came with the desire.  
Still, I forced it back in its rightful place - and suddenly the bliss left me.


	33. Chapter 33

**A/N: Yeah...I still have, like...five more chapters that I wrote on Mibba to post.**

**M POV**  
Some people truly have pathetic ideas for pranks. Rearranging the keys behind the bar/check-in counter _doesn't exactly_ constitute as utterly hilarious to me. Especially since whoever did it actually put half of them_back_ in the right place. I really wished Dad had told me this was in the whole 'Illusionist' description.  
That didn't bother me so much, though, as what I felt during my re-rearrangement. A sudden coldness, and darkness. Like a thunderstorm in my mind. I could sense Conall's movements. He'd probably figured out by then what had happened to his messenger, and so, with no grief at heart, he simply planned. When he would come. Whom he should make. How he could ravage my mind.

_Of course you care for them. They may not be human, or animal, or even something in between...but they're apart of you. You made them. It's only natural to care. Maybe even to love._

* * *

**F POV**  
When I got back to the room, Gerard was sitting on the couch, Indian style, biting his nails, apparently waiting for me. I felt a nervous flutter in my stomach, no longer knowing what to expect.  
"Hey," he said softly, gripping his shirt with the fingers he had been mutilating.  
"Hey," I said.  
We looked at each other for a moment, silent.  
"I'm sorry," Gee said. "I _did_ snap. And I'm sorry. I just...don't want you to trust someone or something too easily. I don't want you to get hurt."  
"Aw...sweetheart," I sat down next to him and pecked his lips. "You have nothing to be sorry for."  
He smiled and took my hand.  
"Let's go paint,"  
I forced a smile back, squeezed his hand, and followed him out.  
Normally I _love_ painting with Gee. _Love it_. But that time, for some reason, I wasn't enjoying it too much. I kept wondering what time it was, how much longer I'd have to stay there, and if Phoenix would still be outside by the time I escaped.  
And _that_ right _there_ confused the fuck outta me. Mainly the fact that I considered it _escaping_, but also the fact that I wanted to spend more time with Phoenix. It's not like he even wanted to spend time with _me_.

* * *

**P POV**  
I looked at the bed, feeling some desire to rip it to shreds, despite the fact that I knew it had to be about ten times more comfortable than what I had gotten used to sleeping on. It almost made no sense; I resented Morgan because of my cage outside. Here she took my cage away, and now I wanted to go back. Of course, it may have just been out of spite.  
But...did I _really_ want to go back? I _did_ feel...homesick, as Frankie had put it. But there it was - that odd feeling. Why did my heart beat so fast all of the sudden? Mostly when I thought of staying, for whatever reason that that option even seemed remotely pleasant. I guess it's because the thought of staying and Frankie seemed to go hand in hand.  
Yet another question: why did Frankie seem to be having such a powerful influence on me?  
I heard a movement in my room, and I snapped my head up to find Morgan glaring at me.  
"_You_," I said. "Are _sick_. And _twisted_. You're a _sick and twisted little girl_."  
"I do my best," she said flatly.  
I noticed my nails growing longer and I struggled to retract them.  
"You know, all I meant was to try to be _happy_ for a day. Not force yourself to look nice," she said.  
"Well...first of all...you could have cleared that up to begin with. Secondly, _you're_ one to talk about being happy,"  
"Whatever. Conall's working. I'd give him a month or so. Thought you should know, since you're clearly eager to get back,"  
She started heading toward the door.  
"Wait," I said.  
"What?"  
"If I know _one_ thing about you, and I probably only know one, it's that the more emotional you get, the less emotional you seem. Right now, you're as blank as a stoner's canvas,"  
She continued to stare at me apathetically.  
"Yeah, I've got issues. I don't have to throw fits over them,"  
"What are you _thinking_, then?"  
"I'm trying not to," she admitted. "I guess that's another benefit of having two people Connected to your mind. You can listen to their thoughts instead of yours."  
I tried to look for any hint of emotion on her face. Her eyes just barely betrayed the pain she felt.  
"It's okay to be scared," I murmured, curious as to why I was suddenly having a heart-to-closed-book conversation with her.  
_You don't really think she's cruel,_  
"For you it is," she said.  
"You think your father never shows emotion?"  
"It doesn't matter what my father does,"  
"It does, though,"  
She still stared at me, waiting for me to finish.  
"You're only thirteen," I said. "You _should_ be scared."  
"Not if it gets in the way,"  
I thought for a second.  
"You ever consider maybe that's why you have so many creations that you never knew existed?"  
That finally forced some emotion out of her. A mixture of shock and fear flooded into her expression.  
"What do you mean?"  
"I mean you force it back. You try to ignore it, you try to hide from it. Isn't emotion how you create things?"  
She stayed silent for a moment, apparently having never considered this proposition on her own before.  
"More or less, it is,"  
I nodded, figuring I had made my point.  
"And where did this burst in _your_ emotion come from?" she asked.  
I swallowed, wishing I knew the answer.  
"I dunno,"  
She smiled a little.  
"I think I know," she muttered.  
"You wanna tell me?"  
She started backing up toward the door.  
"You try to force it back...you try to ignore it, you try to hide from it-"  
"Aaaall right, all right,"  
"Why don't you try actually sleeping in your bed tonight, instead of back outside?"  
"Fine," I said, knowing it would be useless to argue.  
She might be thirteen, but she's a headstrong little bitch.


	34. Chapter 34

**F POV**  
Gerard had decided to be a doting little boyfriend for a change, and got us ice cream to eat while watching the Matrix. Then, just as they were dodging bullets, I heard the door burst open. Before I could respond, I heard Morgan's voice.  
"Pop quiz. Block me,"  
"Ah! Koala!" Gerard and I yelled in unison.  
"Aww, Koala. Why do I see a koala?" I asked.  
"Well, I couldn't just come in here and make you think you cut your dick off, now could I? Sorry, Gerard. Didn't mean to hit you, too,"  
"That _does_ actually seem like something you would do," I said.  
"Yeah," Gerard agreed. "The koala's actually more surprising."  
Morgan looked annoyed, and the koala disappeared.  
"Hm," she grunted. "Well, you failed, Frank. Congratulations."  
"Hey, I didn't know you were coming in here!" I said defensively.  
"Exactly. You need to be prepared. You weren't,"  
"_How can I be prepared for a mental attack_?" I exclaimed. "For a physical attack, _maybe_. I mean, at least I can _see_ the other person's body language...I can't see anything in their _heads_."  
"It's a learned instinct," she said, already walking toward the door. "Start learning."  
She slammed the door behind her. I turned to Gerard, who was already smirking. We laughed.

* * *

Most of the time, I didn't even see Morgan until _after_ she attacked me. I still didn't understand how I could _sense_ them, so I failed. _Every test_. After a while I just guessed she wanted to scare me badly enough to put me on edge for the rest of my life. And it was starting to work. Mainly because she picks the worst possible times to _drop in_.  
Like, for instance, while I was finally getting my cast off (yay!). Dr. Vince was halfway through drilling it off when I saw some barf colored _entity_ in the corner, and totally flipped a shit. Dr. Vince, upon seeing me flip a shit, flipped a shit himself. He jerked back, taking the saw with him, and dropped the saw right above my lap. Midway through its fall, and midway through my scream, Morgan came out of no where and grabbed it.  
"Shit, Frank, do you _want_ to become a eunuch?" Dr. Vince asked irritably.  
"Ah-"  
"Morgan!" Gee exclaimed, looking furious.  
"My bad. Sorry, Doctor," Morgan said, handing him the saw back.  
She turned to me.  
"For once, I can't teach you how to do this," she said. "Do you know what they say the first sign of potential rape in women is?"  
"Um...no..."  
"The woman has an eerie feeling she's about to see her rapist. Most of them ignore it. And then they get grabbed. Women are neurologically engineered to have gut feelings like that, and somehow they're typically accurate. The instinct itself isn't what women need to learn. Listening to the instinct is what they need to learn,"  
"That's a really morbid analogy," Gee said, looking a little concerned.  
"So...basically, I'm supposed to be a woman?" I asked, ignoring his totally correct comment.  
"No. Wouldn't put it past you, though. Just don't ignore your instincts,"  
"I haven't had any instincts,"  
"Because I'm not a real danger,"  
"Like nearly causing the doctor to drop a saw on my crotch isn't dangerous?" I nearly laughed.  
"_Nearly_," she emphasized.  
"If I'm supposedly not learning anything, why are you doing this?"  
"To prepare you to learn,"  
"Right..." I said dubiously. "Typically you learn _before_ your life is put in danger."  
"Not necessarily. In any situation, you can learn two ways - doing something wrong is the usual way. But you can also learn by doing something right. As long as you know what it's like to do it wrong, you can do it right,"  
"Are all Illusionists this crazy, or is this just the writer side of you?"  
She appeared to think about that, then opened her mouth as if to say something. She merely closed it and walked away.  
"Well, she didn't deny being _crazy_," Dr. Vince said.

* * *

Even though Gerard had seemed really sweet lately, and we spent enough time apart every day for our sanity, I still wanted some more space from him for a few hours. Maybe it was the fact that we officially had nothing to do, and no reason to pretend to work.  
So, I decided to try out archery for a bit. Morgan had a floor specifically dedicated to archery, with bows and arrows out on either side of the elevator doors, a flat, grassy plane, and targets as far as I could see. Going there was the closest I'd come to going outside since Phoenix had led me out in his territory.  
I positioned myself in front of one target, aimed, and shot. Mid flight - of _course_, since it's _always_ in the middle of _whatever_ I'm doing - the arrow snapped in half and fell to the ground.  
"Morgan!" I groaned.  
"Hey, at least I aimed at something other than you this time," she said, suddenly appearing right next to me.  
"How do I not even _see_ you?"  
"Yeah, I guess I lied - I was aiming part of that at you," she said. "Why are you shooting things? Aren't you vegetarian?"  
"That doesn't mean I can't learn how to shoot _humans_," I said, feeling a smile appear on my face.  
She stared at me.  
"Uh-huh..."  
"Plus it's nice to be able to go somewhere that at least _resembles_ the outdoors," I said. "Or, you know, be able to go without Phoenix taking me."  
For some reason, I felt a smile tug at my lips. Her eyes narrowed in confusion.  
"Phoenix...took you outside?"  
Now _I_ felt confused.  
"Um...yeah,"  
She still looked confused.  
"Where _he_ used to live?"  
"Yeah,"  
"That's weird,"  
"Why?"  
"Well...one...he hates people,"  
"I noticed,"  
"Two...I told you he's territorial, didn't I?"  
"You did,"  
"That's weird," she repeated. "Where did he take you?"  
"In the big tree,"  
Her eyes widened.  
"_What_? You act like it's some sort of initiation, or something,"  
"No...but...he doesn't do that," she said. "He almost decapitated the last person who passed the boundary and touched his tree."  
"Yeah...I saw his tree's..."  
"Special,"  
"Special," I agreed.  
She stared at me a little longer. I felt tempted to look inside her mind, but I almost felt scared of what I might find. Then, without another word, she turned and left.


	35. Chapter 35

**P POV**  
Even though I knew no one cared, I felt the need to take a shower. Like, with _soap_. I don't know why I felt the urge to use soap, when I'd always felt perfectly clean whenever I just went for a swim in the river. But somehow, maybe a sickeningly human instinct, I felt better after using soap. Of course, then I put myself in a vulnerable position when I walked out of the bathroom. Thank God I'd put on clothes beforehand, because for some reason I kept changing back into my normal looking form...and there Morgan sat. On my bed, staring at me like she knew something I didn't know. Something _good_.  
"What are you doing in here?" I asked.  
"What are _you_ doing?"  
"Ah...existing the only way I'm allowed?"  
"I mean with Frank. Outside. In your tree,"  
"I dunno," I said as simply as I could, though for some reason my mind clouded up when she mentioned Frank.  
We stayed silent for a while.  
"Why is it that important?"  
"Because apparently it is," she said cryptically.  
"_What_?"  
"You're happy," she noted.  
"Wha - I don't...I don't understand where this conversation is going," I avoided answering that comment.  
"Or maybe you're almost happy,"  
"I bet you could have this one-sided conversation in your own room,"  
She actually looked a little hurt by that. I started feeling a little guilty.  
"I don't know what happy is," I amended. "It's not possible for me to be happy."  
"Sure it is," she said. "You're happy in your tree. You took Frank to your tree."  
"Yeah, okay. I took Frankie to my tree,"  
"You call him Frankie,"  
"Yes, I just called him Frankie,"  
"Why?"  
"I dunno,"  
"I believe that," she said.  
"_Then why are you asking me about it_?" I exclaimed, finally starting to change forms.  
"Just putting things out there,"  
"Of course you are,"  
She got up, and froze. She bit her lip, like she was considering saying something. But she clearly changed her mind, and then left.  
Like that wasn't weird at all.

* * *

Because of Morgan's visit, the next time I saw Frankie was about the most awkward thing I'd ever experienced. My guess is he came looking for me, because it was the second time I saw him on the floor with the research lab.  
I tried not to say anything, but give him a confused look.  
"Fourier analysis again?" he asked.  
"Abstract algebra, actually," I said, a little confused. "Why are you here?"  
"I dunno. I kinda missed you," he said with a smirk.  
My heart sped up a little. I cursed myself, but then assured myself it was only a physiological reaction to nerves.  
"Right," I said doubtfully.  
"Humor me. Explain what you're doing,"  
"Um...I dunno how,"  
"Okay. Then why don't you do something normal?"  
"Define normal,"  
"Let's go skating,"  
"_What_?"  
He giggled. I'd refuse to admit it, but I actually thought it was pretty adorable.  
"Or something less normal," he said. "You ever take a walk in a graveyard before?"  
"No," I said, wondering how that constituted as _normal_.  
"Take a walk with me,"  
"Why?"  
"I dunno. Make your stay here a little less miserable,"  
"One...what makes you think it's miserable? And two...how are graveyards not miserable?"  
"One...just based on the look on your face, you're not having fun doing algebra right now-"  
"Abstract-"  
"And two...graveyards are peaceful...not miserable,"  
"Right," I said again, doubtfully.  
He raised an eyebrow, waiting for me to either accept or reject.  
"Fine," I caved.

* * *

For the first minutes, it felt a little awkward. Or a lot awkward. But then I finally broke the silence.  
"What do you wanna know?"  
"What makes you think I wanna know something?"  
"You always wanna know something,"  
"Not this time," he said. "We can have a _normal_ walk together. You're capable of being _normal_, aren't you?"  
I laughed a little.  
"More so than you,"  
"I don't think so," he said. "I can be so normal, I'm boring."  
"I doubt that. Your head would explode if you tried to be boring,"  
He looked sincerely flattered by that comment.  
"Thank you," he said.  
"When did being normal become a bad thing?" I asked.  
"I don't know...but it is now,"  
"What about Boyfriend, is he capable of being boring?" I asked, half-hopeful he'd say yes.  
"No. Not boring," he said.  
"No...another adjective," I said, interested.  
"No...well...yes, but not..."  
"Continue,"  
"Paranoid...over-attentive...but not boring,"  
"Is paranoid better than boring?"  
"Yes," he said. "Not great. But still not as bad as boring."  
"If not great, why do you put up with it?"  
"That particular _quality_ isn't great...Gee's really great," he tried to make it sound natural.  
"Uh-huh,"  
"Oh, don't...'uh-huh' me like that," he said, smiling. "I know he's an ass to you sometimes, but he's...he's great. He really is."  
"Great personality, or great in bed?"  
I couldn't believe I asked him that.  
"Both. _Really_ great in bed, though," he giggled.  
"Well...that doesn't need to be elaborated on,"  
He laughed.  
"I'll spare you the details,"  
"Good,"  
We made our way back to the elevator, and down to the main floor. Suddenly I understood why he thought graveyards were peaceful. Compared to the amount of people on the main floor, the graveyard was an abyss.  
I knew I had to leave - for my sanity, if nothing else. But, despite myself, I hated the idea. I wanted to stay longer. A lot longer. Eventually, though, I managed to start to tear myself away from Frankie.  
"You sure you wanna go?" he asked, almost looking a little disappointed.  
But I knew I was imagining the disappointment.  
"Um...yeah," I said.  
"Will I see you tomorrow?"  
That question almost amused me.  
"Um...probably...I mean, it's a small...building thing,"  
"Building thing?" he giggled.  
"Yeah...you know," was all I could think to say.  
"I _mean_ see each other _intentionally_," he clarified.  
"I dunno, do you want to?" I asked, hopeful he would, though I knew I shouldn't have even given him that option.  
"_Yeah_,"  
I bit my lip to keep from grinning.  
"So...uh..."  
"Four, here?"  
"Okay," I agreed.  
_Try to sound like you're reluctant,_  
"I can handle that," I added.  
_Now you just sound like a dick,_


	36. Chapter 36

**F POV**  
_Why do you have to sound so fucking eager?_ I asked myself. _It's Phoenix. Not Gee._  
But I guess I did feel a little eager. Maybe it was his human looking form...which he didn't seem to have trouble staying in that day. That bit confused me a little, but I figured _maybe_, after everything, he started feeling happier. Maybe he felt like Morgan actually cared. I guess that's like when a child finds out his mother isn't ignoring him, but so busy that she can't concentrate. But should I really compare Morgan and Phoenix to a mother and child? He is, after all, probably twice as old as her...at least.  
Anywho. When I got back to the room, Gerard had somehow found an innocent way to make me feel guilty. There, on the kitchen table, was a buffet of green (yes, specifically green) fruits and vegetables.  
"Happy Arbor day!" he grinned.  
"Arbor day?" I giggled.  
"Yes, Arbor day. It's the only holiday that exists anymore,"  
"Seriously?"  
"The only one _we_ celebrate," he said. "I think Christmas and Hanukkah still exist, but-"  
"They're material and fallacious," I finished.  
He nodded.  
"So Arbor day is all we have left,"  
I couldn't help but grin. He was sweet. He was cheerful...thoughtful...funny...gorgeous...but _somehow_, I felt bored. Why couldn't he be an asshole? Why did I _want_ him to be an asshole?  
I tried to give him a smile.  
"Arbor day's perfect,"

* * *

For the first time in a while, everything felt perfect. The Arbor day meal (and sex) were _amazing_. We were in complete harmony again. In enough harmony, we figured, for another performance on the main floor. Of course, I guess I couldn't go anywhere without a subtle reminder of the upcoming doomsday of our world, via the very sight of Morgan. And when did I start thinking of it as belonging to me, too?  
"I do realize it's Arbor day," she said as I was fixing the settings before going onstage. "And apparently that's the only _exciting_ holiday around here for atheists...but you've just scarred me for life. I hope you know that."  
I laughed.  
"I'm sorry. You didn't stay for the entire thing, did you?"  
"_God_, no!"  
"We'," Gerard blurted out as he ran up on the stage.  
He was too excited for me to stay and talk. I was about to tell her bye, but when I turned back toward her she had already left. Then, before I could even shrug, Gerard grabbed my arm and pulled me up on the stage.  
Some of the crowd laughed, some cheered, some looked like they were worried. I scanned the crowd, not really sure what I wanted to find. One person in particular caught my eye: Mary. I had completely forgotten about Mary.  
She sat and conversed with a relatively attractive, hyperactive red-haired woman. Then another, extremely attractive girl, with long brown hair, who looked around nineteen or twenty, sat down next to Mary. Though her calm demeanor somehow resembled Mary's, her physical appearance was the polar opposite. Attractive, with overly revealing clothing, while Mary was almost unattractive, with conservative clothing.  
Mary immediately seemed livid once the new girl sat down, while the red-haired girl kept chattering as though nothing was happening. The new girl looked slightly fearful of Mary, and attempted to engage in conversation with the red-haired girl instead. Eventually, though, the red-haired girl began to sense something in the conversation, and tried to end it while looking toward the stage.  
Just then, I felt a familiar elbow in my ribs.  
"Ow! _Abusive_ boyfriend!"  
"Well, you'll have a nice green side for Arbor day," he murmured. "Now play."  
"Play _what_?"  
"Were you not listening?"  
"No!"  
"_What were you doing_?"  
"I don't know!"  
"God. What they're playing. _Play what they're playing_,"  
So I played. A little roughly at first, but I fell into it eventually. Gerard sang and played with scissors, while I continued to scan the crowd. I finally noticed Daniel. He looked extremely unhappy, which made me wonder what had just happened. I kept looking, still not finding whatever I needed to stay focused.  
Which I also found odd, since I usually have my focusing point right next to me.

* * *

After the performance, I found Mary. I didn't know what purpose I had in talking to her, but I went for it, anyway. She seemed a little surprised to see me within earshot again, but quickly got over it.  
"Hi," she said.  
"Are you gay?" the red-haired woman immediately asked me.  
"Lily!" Mary exclaimed.  
"Yes...sorry to disappoint," I replied, more amused than offended.  
Lily giggled.  
"I'm sorry," Mary said for her friend. "She's not used to situations where social grace is required."  
I laughed a little.  
"I'm Evelyn," the other girl said, appearing to possess even less social skills than Lily.  
"Nice to meet you," I said, trying _not_ to laugh.  
I noticed Lily giving Mary, who seemed _pissed_, a scolding look.  
"Anyway," Lily said. "Is Gerard your butt-buddy?"  
_That_ made me laugh pretty hard.  
"I typically call him my penis-buddy, but yes,"  
"Butt-buddy has a better ring to it,"  
"It does, now that I think about it,"  
Mary shook her head a little bit as Lily became progressively more _interested_. Evelyn, meanwhile, clearly seemed to be searching for an opportunity to jump in the conversation.  
"I heard about that awkward conversation that you and Mary had in the graveyard," Lily said.  
"Yeah?" I asked, suddenly feeling nervous about that being brought up.  
"You could have made it _so_ much more normal if you had mentioned the fact that you're Connected,"  
"Who told you I'm Connected?" I asked.  
"I dunno," she said. "Some black girl."  
"Some black - Aw, hon, the 411 gets around here too fast. I dunno if I like that,"  
"Well, you're down here breakin' shit, what'd you expect?"  
"That's true. That's true. That was the mental fighting I was referring to," I said to Mary. "And now I _do_ see why she has a right to be tempestuous."  
_Yes, Frankie,_ I thought to myself. _Subtly ease into a conversation worthwhile._  
"Man, not even agreeing with your dad on something like _duplicates_...that's harsh," I said, hoping she would talk about that instead of one of the ten _other_ reasons I could have found.  
"Yeah. My husband's a duplicate, so I know that's hard," Mary said.  
I hadn't seen a ring on her, so that came as a bit of a surprise.  
"Ohhh, your husband's a duplicate?"  
She nodded.  
"Not Connected, though?"  
She shook her head.  
"Right now it's just you and Daniel," she said.  
And Daniel wasn't a duplicate. Nor could he go _in_ her mind. Why was _I_ so unique?  
"I think there used to be another one," Lily said.  
"Yeah, I don't know what happened to him," Mary said.  
I swallowed. "You mean he just disappeared?"  
"Kinda. He got all depressed and we just...never saw him again,"  
Well, that'll make you shit your pants.


	37. Chapter 37

"Mmm," Gee moaned happily. "Coffeeeee."  
"That's not my name," I frowned.  
"Of course not, why would I say _your_ name?"  
"I don't know, maybe because I was the one-"  
"Is this Pumpkin Spice?" Gerard asked the bartender.  
He stared at us.  
"Fine. Nevermind,"  
"Geeeee, let's go back," I pleaded.  
"Why, love?"  
"You know why,"  
"Eventually, Frankie. But right now we just got up,"  
I gave a heavy sigh. Then I realized something.  
"Hey...your birthday's coming up,"  
He stopped mid-sip and pondered that.  
"You're right. I didn't realize that,"  
"Oh my _Gaaaaaad_, what do you wanna _do_?"  
"I wanna paint _all day_, and then I wanna drink coffee,"  
I paused, continuing to give him a fake smile but wondering when he would add "and make love to you." But he didn't have to say it. I knew it would happen. How could he resist birthday sex with _me_ on his birthday?  
Suddenly I had an eerie feeling I needed to put my wall up. So, per Morgan's strange request, I did. And then, no more than two seconds after I did, I heard a flower vase shatter. I whipped around to face Morgan, who smirked at me.  
"Good job. You've learned to trust your instinct,"  
"Thank you, master Obi Wan,"  
She nodded formally toward me, then looked at Gerard.  
"It's Komodo Dragon, by the way,"  
And then she walked away. Gee and I looked at each other.  
"She's in an unusually good mood," he said. "Usually there's a 'fuck face' to follow a comment like that."  
"But I guess whatever is good news for her should be good news for us,"  
"Probably," he agreed. "But..."  
"But what?"  
"I still don't know what she expects from us. I don't know what she thinks what's-his-face is gonna do. Especially to you,"  
Indirectly to me, of course.  
"She'll let us know eventually," I said.  
He raised an eyebrow.  
"Have that much faith in her already?"  
"Well...I don't really have any other choice," I said, immediately on edge. "Especially since our minds are connected."  
This was _so_ gonna turn into a fight. _Damn_.  
"Just because there's no way out doesn't mean you have to believe she knows what she's doing,"  
"It's better than assuming the worst," I said, folding my arms.  
"No, it's better _to_ assume the worst. At least then you'd feel good knowing you were right, instead of kicking yourself for believing her,"  
"Gerard," I snapped. "Why don't _you_ believe her? Since when have you had a reason _not_ to believe her?"  
I was right.  
"I had a reason when she convinced me I was real and then turned around and told me I'm a figment of her imagination,"  
Well...maybe then he did.  
"But didn't it turn out she was telling the truth? I think after that we can believe her about anything,"  
When did I start defending her, again?  
"If we wanna be gullible," he said. "Frank."  
It usually wasn't good when he called me Frank instead of Frankie.  
"Even if she made us and everything around us, she's still thirteen-years-old. She still goes to _Daddy_ for help,"  
"_I_ still go to _Daddy_ for help," I said.  
"Well, you still behave like you're thirteen yourself," he said, a bit harshly in my opinion.  
"You know what, Gerard? You're a negative asshole,"  
I only stayed for a second longer, just long enough to see his irritated reaction, before I stormed off.

* * *

I knew exactly where to find Phoenix. In the same lab where he does Fourier analysis and shit, he sat, in his half form, reading about quantum physics. It almost seemed cute. Actually, I had to admit, I found it adorable.  
"Hey, let's go do something,"  
He struggled to turn the page with his unnaturally long fingernails.  
"I _am_ doing something," he said.  
"Let's do something together," I said.  
He looked at me and started changing into his normal form.  
"When did you become so fond of this form?" I asked.  
He looked at his hands, jumped a little, and changed back to his freakish form.  
"Psh," he said, turning back to his book. "Where's Boyfriend?"  
"Somewhere bitching about every little thing I do or say,"  
He nodded, clearly amused.  
"Okay. What do you wanna do?"  
"Paint,"  
"Paint? I suck at painting,"  
"Anyone who _chooses_ to read about quantum physics sucks at painting," I said. "If I meet anyone who can do both, I'm gonna be sincerely angry."  
He chuckled a little. It echoed in the room.  
"Okay. Let's go paint,"  
He put down his book and headed out the door, with me trailing close behind him. Suddenly he stopped.  
"I don't think I know where to go," he admitted.  
"First, let's go to your room to get you clothes," I suggested gently.  
"Why?"  
"So you can cover your emerging dick," I said.  
His lips twitched upward, like he almost found it funny.  
"Fine,"

* * *

**P POV**  
Even though we'd agreed on painting, after arguing all the way toward my room about whether he was right about music working better than therapy, we decided to go to the media floor instead.  
He asked me what kind of music I prefer. I said I didn't give a shit.  
"What? Of course you do. Even assholes have favorite music,"  
"I like silence,"  
"You haven't heard any music," he stated bluntly.  
"I have. I listened to that shit Emma constantly sings,"  
"Probably Evanescence, based on the field she lives in. Let's try Avril Lavigne,"  
_I don't wanna fall to pieces...I just wanna sit and stare at you...I don't wanna talk about it, and I don't wanna conversation, I just wanna cry in front of you...I don't wanna talk about it, 'cause I'm in love with you. I'm in love with you. 'Cause I'm in love with you...I'm in love with you...I'm in love with you..._  
"Damn," I muttered.  
"What?" Frankie asked.  
"Nothing," I said quickly.  
Frankie's eyes narrowed, showing he knew I had lied, but he didn't know the truth, either. Thank God. I'm not about to admit he may be right about music-expression shit.  
"You're awkward," he said, annoyed.  
"I know," I assured him. "It's what I do best."  
"Actually, no," Frankie corrected himself. "You just kinda remind me of Gerard."  
"Oh no you didn't,"  
"Oh yes I did!" Frankie smirked, snapping his fingers in a "Z" formation.  
"You're still the gayest fucker I've ever met,"  
"If I'm so gay..." he laid back and rested his head in my lap, then lowered his voice to a whisper. "_Why are you the one getting the boner_?"  
I laughed even as I saw Gerard enter the room.  
"Gee," Frankie murmured softly, obviously more than happy to see him despite how pissed he claimed to feel toward him.  
"Um...hi...Frankie," Gerard mumbled, looking very disturbed.  
"Oh, woops," Frankie muttered, noticing exactly where he was.  
He shot up and immediately rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment, while I looked down to make sure he really _was_ joking about the boner.  
"Hey, baby," Frankie said nervously, pecking Gerard's lips.  
I tried to crack my knuckles subtly, but my temper overruled my sense of perception.  
"Hey," Gerard replied again, casting me a look of utter hatred.  
I aimed to cast one right back.  
"What's up, assplug?" I grunted at Gerard.  
He looked at Frankie...Frankie looked back at him...and I nearly hurled as they both blushed and started giggling.  
"You _are_ quite the assplug, aren't you?" Frankie giggled, wrapping Gee in a hug.  
"Proud of it," Gee said, looking down at Frankie.  
I started to feel angry - mainly at myself for even saying _ass_ in front of them, let alone _assplug_.  
"Like last night," Frankie murmured, probably meaning for me not to hear it.  
Images swarmed in my mind, tormenting me. I looked down, trying to keep my eyes from going red, even when my vision remained that way.  
"Babe, that's nothing compared to what tonight will be," Gerard said, probably in an attempt to be seductive.  
I snapped my head up to glare at Gerard, though he looked way too focused on Frankie for comfort. Anger kept flooding my mind and visions of them in bed stabbed at me mercilessly.  
"Okay," I said, reminding them of my presence. "I don't think I need to stay for this."  
"Yeah," Gerard smiled. "Run along now."  
"Aw, don't go," Frankie whined, turning around.  
"Or we could-" Gerard started, but Frankie interrupted.  
"Shush, Gee," Frankie chided, giving him a light slap on the shoulder.  
"No...I should really go," I said. "I have...fucking birds to kill."  
I headed toward the door, trying to ignore the expressions on either of their faces. One would only piss me off, and the other would only make the pain worse.


	38. Chapter 38

**A/N: And I _meant_ five chapters. Haha, and I'm gonna have fun writing the next one, too.**

I flew outside, changing forms as I went, and into the field of flowers. It actually felt good, standing somewhere outdoors away from inside my territory. I knelt down and plucked a flower, and then watched it change forms. Rather than letting it fly free, though, I ripped it to shreds. It screamed.  
"Why would you do that?"  
I hissed.  
_Emma. Fuck_.  
"Because I fucking wanted to," I told her, avoiding eye contact.  
"Stop!" she cried. "Didn't you hear it?"  
"How is that anymore cruel than setting them free to cross the boundary? How is it _cruel_?"  
"They can _feel_,"  
"They're _paper_,"  
"So were you!"  
I stared at a flower, feeling a cold sensation from her words.  
"What?"  
"You started out paper. You _evolved_. Into..._that_. Now you have three forms. _You're_ not human, but _you_ feel. And you were free to cross the boundary,"  
Somehow, I didn't think it was fair that she knew all that. I didn't want her to know all that. Especially since _I_ didn't know all that.  
"Whatever,"  
She sat across from me and stared at me. I kept avoiding her gaze, instead looking at her bloody arm.  
"Why didn't you come inside?"  
"You have to pick another one," she said. "Make up for the one you shred."  
"And I'd almost thought you'd started getting saner,"  
I plucked another flower, waited for it to change, and let it fly away. It didn't catch fire once it hit the boundary line. Emma stared at it with the utmost concern.  
"I'm not afraid of anyone," she said. "Morgan's afraid for me. But I'm not afraid. I'm happy out here, and they won't take that."  
"I thought you wanted to see what was in the cottage," I said, finally looking at her.  
"On my own terms,"  
"You're not afraid to die?" I clarified.  
"Clearly not,"  
I took notice of her wounded arms as she said that.  
"Why don't you fix those?" I asked.  
"Blood is the fluid of life,"  
"Exactly. So why do you purposely lose it?"  
She stared off into the distance.  
"I see them sometimes. They're taking notes on whatever Morgan does. I think Morgan knows that,"  
"Probably. She seems to know everything,"  
"Then why would she let creations go unnoticed?"  
For the first time, she not only made sense to me but I agreed with her.

* * *

**F POV**  
It pissed me off that Gerard had scared Phoenix away, and actually seemed happy about that. Still, I knew I couldn't do anything about that.  
Eventually we agreed to meet back at our room, and we went our separate ways. I still wanted to be around people, though, so I went down to the main floor. The first person I saw that I recognized was Lily.  
"Hello, my duplicated friend," she greeted me. "Where's your butt-buddy? When do I get to meet him?"  
"He's off somewhere, and...I don't know,"  
"Off somewhere?"  
"Yeah. He's pissed because I was hanging out with Phoenix, so...he's somewhere,"  
"Ah...Phoenix the...freakish looking...outsider,"  
I half-laughed. "Yeah."  
"And where's Phoenix?"  
"Off somewhere. _He_ was pissed because Gerard came in. They don't get along for some reason."  
"Uh-_huh_," she had a suspicious look on her face.  
"What?"  
"You're _really_ confused about that?"  
I wondered why she thought she knew something about Phoenix and Gerard's behavior toward each other. Or, at least, she thought she knew more than I did.  
"Um...yes," I said.  
"_God_, you're oblivious,"  
"How so?"  
"They're both gay, aren't they?"  
"Gee's...bi...I can't figure out Phoenix," I said, wondering where this was going.  
"That typically means he's gay," she told me. "Which makes you pretty oblivious to the rival thing going on."  
"Rival thing?" I laughed, doubting Phoenix really had any feelings toward me beyond that of "I'll put up with you until I can get out of here."  
"You don't notice how they glare at each other?"  
"Phoenix use to beat up Gerard, I just figured..."  
"Why did he beat up Gerard?"  
"Because...Gee tried to beat him up,"  
"And why is that?"  
"Cause he thought he was dangerous,"  
"Yeah...to his ego,"  
"Well, no...I mean, his nails are..."  
"Really long," she said. "Yeah. But he listens to Morgan, and she told him not to hurt anyone."  
"Yeah...but..." I faltered, realizing she _might_ have had _something _going.  
I still didn't believe Phoenix had any feelings, but Gerard may have felt jealous. Phoenix probably just found reinforcing that jealousy amusing.  
"Okay," I conceded. "Now tell me something about someone _else's_ life. What's with Evelyn?"  
"Huh?" she seemed more surprised than confused.  
"You always have to keep Mary from back-handing Evelyn, don't you?"  
"Yes," she said reluctantly.  
"Why?"  
"They're sisters. Well...half-sisters. I don't know that I can say more than that,"  
"Psh. Well, that's helpful,"  
"Sorry," she laughed. "It's not my life to tell."  
"True enough,"  
She sat back and seemed to ponder something.  
"Why don't you _ask_ Phoenix?"  
"_What_?"  
I was _not_ gonna ask him if he had feelings for me.  
"Ask him if he's gay. Or...better yet...figure out if you can turn him on,"  
I stared at her.  
"_What_?"  
The _idea_ of Phoenix being _turned on_ seemed alien.  
"You know what I mean. Even if he's not interested in you, if he's gay he's _gotta_ be able to be turned on by you. I mean, you _are_ pretty hot,"  
"Um...thanks?"  
Leave it to Lily to be that blunt about it.


	39. Chapter 39

**M POV**  
Apparently I'd miscalculated. Conall was taking longer than a month. Of course, I don't know what made me think I could _calculate_ at all. I only knew about Conall all that Dad told me about him. I didn't know what exactly he was planning or creating, although I knew the creating part couldn't possibly take that long. But I'd never been threatened by another Illusionist before.  
I sat outside, keeping an eye on the creations that couldn't, or in Emma's case _wouldn't_, come inside. And then I saw a little flicker of silver movement past the vandalized tree, into the woods behind it. Whatever it was, it seemed a little lost. That immediately told me it didn't come from Lunadr.  
A head peeked out from behind a tree. I noticed the white eyes and gray scales, and a little excitement filled me.  
"_Cami_?" I exclaimed.  
I jumped up and ran over to him. It didn't even occur to me to look him over before I hugged him. He chirped nonsense, apparently still expecting me to understand him.  
"Where's Dad? Still back at, uh...hippy place? Is that what they call it?"  
He squeaked.  
"What are you doing here?"  
He handed me a small note.  
"Of course it would be a note," I muttered, opening it up.  
_Love you, M. Tell your Connected to stay inside, no matter what,_  
I wondered if Dad felt the need to send this because he'd seen Frank go outside with Phoenix, or because he saw Frank go outside and didn't realize Phoenix had taken him. Because I honestly thought Frank was safe no matter where he went if Phoenix went with him...and fond of him enough to take him into his tree. But he said no matter what, and I trusted him.  
Cami started chirping again, and his tail swished around a little. I realized, with a little sadness, that he had to leave soon. Dad wouldn't want one of his creations in my world for too long at this point.  
"Bye, Cami," I whispered, giving him another hug.  
He chirped and then darted off into the forest behind him. I read the note one more time, folded it back up, put it in my pocket, and then headed back toward the cottage.

* * *

**F POV**  
I didn't even know where to begin. Or when. Obviously, I'd have to get him alone and make sure Gerard didn't see us. Not that I wanted to go _far_. I definitely wasn't going to _cheat_ on Gerard by _any_ means. I just wanted to test Phoenix.  
After I...ahem...put Gerard to bed...I went looking for him. Of course, I didn't want to _appear_ to be looking for him, so I tried going to places I would normally go in hopes that he would happen to be there. The last place I went, the last place I expected to see him, was the media floor, listening to Avril Lavigne.  
At least he looked normal that night. And by normal, I mean abnormal for him. Like, he looked freakin' gorgeous. So much that I didn't even feel shame in admitting it. I mean...if Gerard ever saw him in that form, even he'd probably think so, too.  
I put on my best attempt at a surprised-slash-amused expression. He smirked at me, but then looked back toward the wooden door. Nervously, I made my way over to him and sat down. My heart beat a little faster, hoping we wouldn't go somewhere I hadn't planned.  
"I swear, I think you and Morgan are out to get me," he said.  
"I could say the same thing," I said. "This is more _my_ territory, after all."  
"True enough,"  
Now where could I go?  
"Sorry about, uh..."  
"Your butt-buddy? Yet again?"  
I laughed. "Yeah. He's..."  
"Not so cheerful for a gay,"  
"He's bi,"  
"I _don't_ give a damn,"  
"I didn't expect you to,"  
"That just tells me he's even hornier than I thought,"  
"Ah...I should have predicted you to turn from homophobic to biphobic,"  
Wait. _Golden opportunity._  
"But," I continued. "For someone who's apparently not gay, and apparently not bi, you really don't seem that interested in girls."  
He laughed. "I guess since I'm human, I automatically have to want to fuck something."  
"'Someone,' is usually the term I use,"  
"Whatever. Point being, I _don't,_"  
I tried to grasp what he was saying.  
"Wait...so you've never felt...?" I hesitated in saying more.  
He stared at me for a second.  
"Felt...?" he pressed.  
"Like...attracted to anyone?"  
He bit his lip in the way that made it nearly impossible for me not to get wood. _Nearly_.  
"Nope," he finally said. "Well...no."  
I meant to ask if the strange pause should hint at anything, but half of my mind didn't follow my intentions. And it happened to be the half that contained my motor skills. I got on my knees, unsure what I was doing.  
Phoenix swallowed nervously, obviously as clueless of my intentions as I was. I shifted to sit on his lap and then put my arm around his neck, like I would do with Gerard. My mind began to scream at me, trying to fill me with shame as if I'd listen.  
"So...this," I said, playing with his hair. "Doesn't make you feel anything?"  
A million emotions flitted across his face. "No."  
I shifted to draw my legs over either side of him, then gently pressed my hand against his chest and rubbed it faintly, feeling adrenaline race within my veins.  
"And...this?"  
His breathing quickened slightly and I wondered if he was lying when he shook his head.  
"Okay," I whispered, hoping to make the moment more intense. "What about this?"  
I brought my hand up to his neck and leaned closer.  
The contact of our lips felt like an electric shock, a buzz vibrating in my body and mind that silenced the screaming in my head and every thought with Gerard's name. I let myself linger on his lips, not wanting to leave them. He pressed back gently, telling me all I needed to know. When we finally broke apart, there was no doubt in my mind that he'd felt the same thing I had.  
Something I had never intended to feel for him.

* * *

**A/N: Frankie's a little slut, in my humble opinion. BUT HE'S A LOVABLE SLUT!**


	40. Chapter 40

I did _not_ mean to go there. Did that count as cheating? I think it did. But I didn't mean to. So did it still count? Probably.  
Phoenix stared at me, wide-eyed. I shot up from his lap and darted toward the elevator.  
"Hey," he started.  
"'Don't get cocky,'" I said, slapping the down button. "'I was only proving a point.'"  
"The look on your face says something else, though,"  
I squeezed into the elevator before it even fully opened, and then pressed a number. I didn't even pay attention to which number I pressed - I just wanted to get out of there. Only when the doors closed and blocked my view of Phoenix's smirking face did I realize that I'd sent myself to the floor I lived on. That was definitely the last place I wanted to go. So, as soon as the doors opened, I ran toward the stairs. I went down one level, then realized exactly where I wanted to go.  
Though I had a feeling I wouldn't find her there, I headed toward Morgan's room. Even when she didn't answer my knocking, I didn't think to go look somewhere else. I turned the doorknob, surprised when it gave. It wasn't like her to leave her door unlocked.  
I heard the shower running, and came to a halt.  
"Damn," I muttered to myself.  
I sat down on the bed, reluctant to postpone my interrogation. After a moment I noticed her clothes all over the place; particularly a pair of pants that laid across a coffee table with a piece of paper sticking out of one of the pockets. I got up and made my way over to the coffee table, feeling a little stalker-like, and then plucked the paper from the pants pocket.  
_Love you, M. Tell your Connected to stay inside, no matter what._  
At first only the first sentence hit me, and I realized it wouldn't be fair for me to bitch to Morgan about something she may not have even had any part in. She would have gladly traded places with me, if only to get away from the pain of missing her family. Not just the pain of missing her family - the pain of knowing how close her father was, and knowing how dangerous it would be to go to him.  
Then the second sentence started to make more sense to me, as though my psyche needed to process it slower for it's own defense. When he said Connected, he meant _me_. Had he seen me go outside? Did he know who I went outside _with_? And when did he give Morgan the note? My mind swarmed with so many questions, I didn't know Morgan had gotten out of the shower until I heard her voice behind me.  
"You're going through my _pants_?"  
I jumped and turned to look at her, note still in hand.  
"_That's_ a little creepy, Frank,"  
"It was sticking out," I said. "And, uh, it's about me anyway, honey."  
She walked over and took it out of my hand to scan it.  
"Oh, yeah. I was gonna tell you that," she said, like it was no big deal.  
"'Oh, yeah?' What if I was outside just now?"  
"Well, I would probably be pretty pissed. Unless you were with Phoenix, then I'd be a little less pissed. But, as it is, I'm not pissed. Were you outside just now?"  
"No. But I could've been. So, what, I can go outside with Phoenix but not by myself?"  
"No. Not anymore,"  
"What is that? I mean, I can understand _now_, but how was it any safer before? I mean, he's the most dangerous thing out there! I'm not such a wimp that I can't defend myself from those other things. Maybe from him, but if he wasn't-"  
"_Shhh_," she whispered, getting an attentive look on her face.  
"What's wrong?" I whispered.  
"Nothing, I just wanted you to shut up," she said.  
I opened my mouth to say something again, but she cut me off.  
"I know it...like...ruins your idea of what your first date's gonna be like-"  
"_What_?"  
"Yeah, I saw you. I _was_ you. It was _not_ pleasant. And you know what, I wanna know why the only time I'm ever _in_ your head is when you're being a slut,"  
"I'm not a slut!"  
"Whatever. I do _not_ approve,"  
That caught me a little by surprise. Why did she care who I had feelings for all of the sudden? Just because we were Connected didn't make us any closer than before. Why did she think I cared if she approved?  
She didn't, I realized. It was _Phoenix_ she cared about.  
"You don't approve?" I repeated, feeling a small smile tug at my lips.  
"No,"  
"I apologize, _Mommy Dearest_, I didn't realize-"  
"_What_?"  
"Interesting how your maternal feelings don't emerge until you feel like you can _approve_ of something,"  
"_What_?"  
"I mean I guess before you were expressing your motherly instincts by yelling at him, but I really just thought you wanted to yell. But you didn't want Gerard to hurt him,"  
"Gerard _can't_ hurt him. Gerard's a _wimp_. I don't understand-"  
"Well, darling, you don't have to worry. Because I'm not interested in taking your child - or, I guess I should say brainchild. Either way, I'm not interested,"  
She laughed harshly.  
"_Not interested_?" she repeated. "Then what was-"  
"I was proving-"  
"What you were _proving_ was that it doesn't take Gerard for you to want to eat someone's face off. I _told_ you. I was _in_ your _head_. You _like_ him,"  
"I _like_ Gerard,"  
"No, you _fight_ with Gerard, you _live_ with Gerard, you have _sex_ with Gerard. You _like_ Phoenix,"  
"Whatever. You're wrong. _You_, on the other hand, can't truthfully say you don't bare some maternal feelings toward Phoenix,"  
"That's where you're wrong. I can. But now you've said what you want to say, and I've said what I want to say...so leave,"  
"Just like that?"  
"Just like that. Are we done now? Can I get dressed?"  
I sighed heavily. "I guess."  
Then she got another attentive look on her face.  
"I only said two words-"  
"Shhh,"  
I sighed again, even more frustrated. Morgan gestured roughly for me to keep my mouth shut. Clutching her towel tightly, she made her way to the door and pressed her ear against it. For a moment I thought she was still messing with me, but she stayed that way for a while.  
"Go in the bathroom," she ordered in a whisper. "Don't come out till I tell you to."  
I hesitated to let her put herself in danger alone, but at the same time I knew she knew better than me.  
"You don't want-"  
"Go," she said.  
I did as she said, and slipped behind her bathroom door. After I shut it, I could still hear her rummaging around in her room. Then I heard her slam the door to the apartment.


End file.
